We Didn't Start the Fire
by ohmytheon
Summary: At sixteen, Touya had two paths: let his hate consume him and become a villain or make something of himself out of spite. After years of struggling, he's got a job at UA teaching students how to safely use their quirks and friends that actually give a shit about him. When All Might and Shouto start at UA the same year, the past comes back to haunt him. Time to cope with dark humor.
1. When Life Gives You All Might

Notes: Ohmytheon: So for my 300th fic on ao3 (yes, I know how ridiculous that is), I wanted to do something special - and honestly what better fic for it to be than this one since I'm basically obsessed with the "Dabi is a Todoroki" theory. Like many fics I've been involved in, this started out as a joke. It's originally the brainchild of theonlymoosewhoeatssalad, who messaged me with the concept of "Teacher Touya AU where he works with students with dangerous quirks and is constantly stunned by their stupidity and self-sacrificing behavior". I absolutely ran with it. I even had to create an info dump doc because I had too many ideas. It's grown into something special: this fic, along with "Reconfigure", is what I write when I'm sad and down because it's filled with such dark, delicious humor and terrible puns about memes that I can't help but smile when I do. I'm stoked she wants to write this with me and I can't wait to see how it progresses past our screaming at each other and creating like 100 memes.

I asked theonlymoosewhoeatssalad what note she'd like for this fic and she said, "Just say hi and that I got to work with my favorite author so I'm dead" lmao girl ily this fic is so damn hilarious but also filled with lots of feels so thanks for sending me the idea and letting me write this with you.

* * *

Touya had barely stepped foot in the meeting room when Kayama swooped in on him like Batman on a bad guy. He was equally terrible at fending her off, throwing his hands up in an attempt to defend himself. However, she smacked them away with no hesitation, completely undeterred, and grabbed him by the collar of his button-up shirt.

"I know you're not used to wearing nice clothes, Touya, but could you at least pretend to know how to look presentable?" Kayama smoothed down his collar like a mother would a son. Most young men would've sputtered and felt overwhelmingly flustered with the X-Rated Hero Midnight so close to them. Touya only stood in the doorway with his arms hanging limply at his sides, rolling his eyes as Kayama fussed over him. He was grown ass man and should've been embarrassed about being treated this way, but he remained unaffected, strong like a hero on steroids.

When Kayama stepped back to assess her work, Touya asked, "Satisfied?"

Kayama rubbed her chin thoughtfully and eyed him with a sharp gaze that would've melted weaker men on the spot. In her inhumanely tight hero costume, she looked like the type of woman that could eat him alive and he'd thank her. "You know, when you actually dress the part, you don't look half bad." One of her trademark sultry smiles slipped onto her face. "You could even be considered handsome." He snorted derisively. She dropped her hand and smiled. "If only you hadn't taken on Aizawa's habit of dressing like a hobo. I should've stepped in earlier while you were still impressionable."

"Comfort and function over style," Touya pointed out.

"You're young," Kayama insisted. "There's still hope for you."

"Don't say such awful things," Touya said, giving her a little smirk. She sighed dramatically as he brushed past her to drop into a seat at the long table near the end.

He'd thought he was running late to the surprise meeting, but then some of the teachers worked side-gigs. After all, besides him and a few other staff members, the rest of the teachers still spent half their lives as active pro-heroes. He knew for a fact that Aizawa pulled shifts even on some school nights, which surely attributed to his constant exhaustion. And he said Touya was bad, the hypocrite.

Touya typically didn't wear a nice shirt and slacks to work (which, in retrospect, considering his position, he probably should), but meetings like this were usually serious matters that not even he could ignore. It wasn't often everyone got called in to discuss things. It was especially suspicious since the hero entrance exam was upon them and Nezu had been particularly vague about his reasons. Touya didn't like it when people were vaguer than him, but Nezu wasn't exactly human, had hired him despite his sketchy history, and let him (mostly) do what he wanted, so he let it fly without complaint.

But what the hell was going on?

Despite his suspicions, Touya lounged back in his chair, arms dangling over the sides, and used the tip of his sneakers to twist side-to-side. "As much as I love seeing all of your faces, this was one of my last few days off."

"Oh, hush," Kayama quipped as she sat down next to him. "You barely have to do anything here in between the entrance exam and Sports Festival." She threw one of her legs over the other and brushed her foot against his calf. "Besides, we all know by now you only pretend to be lazy."

"You take that back. I have a reputation to uphold."

As usual, Principal Nezu sat at the head of the table. "I apologize for calling you all in on such short notice." Touya thought it kind of funny that the smartest person in the room wasn't even human. That was admittedly half the reason he'd applied here. There was nothing quite like the knowledge that his boss was a rat/bear/dog creature with an intelligence quirk. The corners of the principal's mouth twitched upward into a sneaky smile. "I know you keep your caseload busy during breaks, Touya."

"Why must you all hurt me this way?" Touya complained.

"Because we care about you," Yamada answered as he and Aizawa strode into the room.

Touya stopped twisting the chair and narrowed his eyes. "Lies." When he noticed Aizawa wearing what looked like a bloodstained version of his hero costume, he popped upright and pointed an accusing finger at him. "Why doesn't he have to dress up?"

"I just got off patrol."

"You've got blood on you!"

"It's not mine," Aizawa stated, as if that made it somehow better.

Touya scoffed and folded his arms before flopping back in his chair. Pro heroes. Couldn't live with them because they were annoying and self-righteous as fuck; couldn't live without them because idiots got it in their heads that they could be villains and wreak havoc.

"Ah, that's everyone then," Nezu said. "Well, almost everyone."

"Have you finally found a replacement?" Snipe asked. Straight and to the point, just like his quirk. It did make sense to call a meeting if that was the case, but Touya didn't know why he had to be here too. Technically speaking, he taught a class, but it wasn't exactly a class either when there was no grade. A student either passed or failed when it came to him and the grey area in between was difficult for anyone outside of him to navigate. Still, a new teacher only meant Touya would have to deal with them once school got into the swing of things.

Nezu clasped his paws together on top of the table. "I have. I actually approached him a while ago, but we weren't able to finalize the details until recently."

On his left, Yamada punched Touya in the arm. "Aw, you won't be the new kid anymore."

"This is my third year," Touya deadpanned. "I'm hardly new."

"Still," Kayama cooed, "fresh meat is always exciting. You're old news now."

"Tragic," Touya said dryly. He turned his attention to Nezu. "You had to find someone to help with the Heroics Course, didn't you? That's why I'm here, right?"

Patient as ever while Touya liked to bulldoze through everything, Nezu nodded. "Yes, among other reasons. This is a...very special case and delicate matter."

Touya tapped his fingers along his bicep. What did that mean? Whatever it was, he didn't like the sound of it. His job already entailed lots of special cases and delicate matters. Adding more to his plate did not sound like a fun time. Who had Nezu hired for the job? Was it a well-known hero? Could it be someone in the top twenty? Top ten? That direction of thinking only led to sour thoughts, so he shoved it aside. Maybe he had chosen a known but unpopular hero. Maybe he'd picked an almost entirely unknown hero. Someone retired from the hero business altogether?

"His hiring will be officially announced soon, but everything we discuss in here today is strictly confidential," Nezu declared. "Understood?"

The principal looked at every one of them seriously, his eyes not leaving them until they nodded. Touya eyed him for a moment before nodding as well. The matter was serious enough to warrant a secret meeting with the entire UA staff, so he wasn't about to argue. Besides, if anyone here knew how to keep a secret, it was him. If he had been able to become a pro hero, no one would've even known his identity. Hell, most people didn't know now and he was a civilian. Burying things was his specialty, which was ironic considering that digging things up was also one of his many skills.

Nezu cleared his throat and proclaimed, "You can come in now." The door behind them swung open. Touya kicked off the floor with his foot to spin around in his chair. "I'd like to welcome Toshinori Yagi to the UA staff as the new Heroics teacher."

Touya pitched forward in his chair as if he was punched in the gut. "_All Might_?"

The fucking Number One Hero strolled into the room in all his bright ass yellow suit glory, like some beefed up bumblebee, and greeted in a loud boom, "Hello!"

He practically blinded people with that cheesy ass smile on his face. Aizawa might have even winced. Everyone was shocked into silence at the revelation. The Symbol of Peace was teaching at UA? Then who the fuck was going to stand up to the dark shadows of evil while he was doing a lesson or grading homework? What was he doing here? Why had Nezu agreed to this? Why had All Might agreed to this?

Even though he knew there was no way in hell that All Might would be able to recognize him, Touya sank in his chair to hide behind Kayama and put a hand over his forehead to shield his eyes. He'd gone to great lengths to ensure no one outside of a few chosen people knew who he was exactly. The last person he wanted to know was goddamn All Might, who had been the indirect source of his misery for years. Of course, All Might didn't know that. Years of therapy had drilled it into his head that it wasn't All Might's fault that his dad was a jealous egomaniac hellbent on making it to the top by any means.

Touya still didn't like him. He had his reasons. He just didn't feel like making them clearer.

"You hired All Might," Yamada said, his eyes wide with shock behind his glasses.

"I'm excited to work with you all in the coming year," All Might proclaimed as he sat down in the empty seat across the table. Maybe Touya could slink under the table. Would anyone even notice if he hid?

"An excellent hero," Nezu piped up, sounding somewhat amused with himself.

_Excellent? _Touya mouthed to himself. He was El Numero Uno. What the fuck was going on? This could not be happening. He would have to eventually work closely with anyone teaching the Heroics Course to ensure maximum student safety and that they were doing their jobs right. He did not want to work with All Might. It was too close to a cosmic slap to the face. What was the universe trying to say to him right now? Probably nothing because it was too busy cackling.

All Might's blinding smile turned somewhat shy, which made things even weirder. "I admit that I'm new to the teaching aspect of heroics, but I'm confident in my abilities to guide the next generation of heroes."

Touya took a deep breath as he tried to comprehend the mindfuck that had just happened and muttered, "Oh my fucking god," under his breath. It wasn't loud enough for the new teacher to hear, but Kayama kicked him under the table hard enough to make him grunt.

"I can see why you kept this a secret for so long," Kayama stated, as if she hadn't just physically assaulted him. "This is big news. The media will be all over it once it breaks."

"That's not...entirely my reasoning for keeping you all in the dark until now," Nezu admitted. Clever, little bastard. What was he up to now? This entire setup had been designed specifically to stress Touya out. He knew it. Nezu turned to All Might. "Do you want to take the lead?"

All Might rubbed the back of his neck like an embarrassed teenager. "Ah, yes, that would make more sense…"

Touya squinted his eyes. Whatever was going on, he didn't like it. In fact, if he could perhaps make his escape while everyone was busy paying attention to All Might… Yamada slapped a hand on his shoulder, as if sensing Touya's urge to bolt. He tried to pass it off as reassuring, but Touya saw it for what it was. He was making sure he stayed put. Huffing, Touya shrugged off Yamada's hand and slipped down in his chair again to appear uninterested. There. He wasn't going anywhere. The hero could be happy.

"The truth is…" All Might squirmed uncomfortably in his chair. He was comically too large for the piece of furniture, but no one was going to tell him that when he could knock any one of them clean out of the building with a single punch and not even blink. He wouldn't do something like that (after all, he wasn't Endeavor), but power radiated from him like light from a sign at a strip club. It was impossible to ignore. "Ah, I was involved in a massive fight a few years ago. It wasn't in the media, but I was severely injured and…"

Impatience bubbled inside of Touya. He'd learned to deal with it over the years. Working with students, especially ones with powerful and dangerous quirks, meant he couldn't fly off the handle every time they did something that made him want to pull out his hair. Dealing with kids was completely different from dealing with adults, especially oh-so-important ones. He just wanted All Might to get on with his explanation so he could run to the nearest bar, slam back a shot or two, and then drag himself back to prepping for the entrance exams.

"Well, it's easier to show you, I suppose," All Might finished lamely.

Before anyone could question what he meant, smoke exploded around All Might, reminding Touya of a popped balloon. When it faded away, instead of the ridiculously tall and muscled hero that everyone knew, a sickly skinny skeleton of a person sat in his place. His eye sockets were sunken in and his golden hair flatter, but all Touya could focus on was the sharpness of his bones that his skin stretched over and the way his shoulders acted like a hanger for his entirely too large suit.

"What the fuck?" Touya blurted, his brain and mouth currently disconnected.

"This is my true form." The skeleton - no, it was All Might, that was fucking All Might - bowed his head in shame. "I'm only able to hold onto my hero form for a little over three hours a day. Even then, operating at a hundred percent is-"

"Dangerous as fuck," Touya cut in. Somewhere in the back of his mind, a voice was screaming at him to shut the hell up, but he was still experiencing that disconnect. Drawing attention to himself was a terrible idea, especially when that attention came from All Might, but it was like the professional side of himself had taken over and wouldn't stop analyzing the situation. "It must take some part of your quirk to even stay in that form."

"I…" All Might blinked in surprise and focused his hollowed-eyed gaze on him in a way that made Touya immediately regret his decision to speak. "It does."

"Obviously, the public can't be made aware of this," Nezu stated.

No shit, Sherlock. It would throw them into a panic if anyone knew the Number One Hero was actually an emaciated human stick. If villains were to find this information out, there would be chaos in the streets. So many people, other heroes included, relied on him to keep the peace. Society rallied around him to keep them safe. All Might struck fear in the hearts of villains everywhere, making them too afraid to commit crimes in case he popped out of thin air and beat the shit out of him with his insanely powerful quirk. As the Symbol of Peace, he had inspired so many other heroes to rise out of the woodwork and protect people all around the world, not just in Japan.

He had also inspired a lot of bitterness and hatred in people that convinced them it was necessary to go to extreme lengths to beat him. It wasn't his fault, but Touya honestly wasn't sure if he was aware of that opposite effect of his or not.

"How did this happen?" Aizawa all but demanded.

"The injury I was dealt was too grievous to be healed by any quirk," All Might explained.

Recovery Girl sighed. "Even mine. We tried since my healing quirk is on the stronger end." She shook her head in disappointment. "I was one of the first to find out about this, but it was not easy to accept."

"I had multiple surgeries throughout the years in an attempt to fix it more permanently, but…" All Might coughed into a napkin he hastily pulled from his pocket. When he pulled the napkin away, Touya's eyes zeroed in on the familiar red color of blood now staining it. "My time in my hero form started to dwindle throughout the years. Nezu approached me last year about taking a position here so I can have an opportunity to figure out what to do next. I don't want to quit hero work." He gazed down at one of his still massive hands and clenched it into a fist. "I _can't _."

Touya brought a hand to his mouth to stop himself from barking out into laughter. It wasn't funny, but it certainly was fucking ridiculous. He didn't know the specifics of All Might's quirk - no one truly did, other than it was some sort of super strength - but there was no way pumping himself up into that muscled form while fighting was healthy for him. If he had to use his quirk at full capacity, it would no doubt take away from the effort it took to stay in that form, which would probably lessen his time limit. Self-righteous determination could only get him so far. Touya's hand itched to snag a pen and take down notes, but he stayed very still and quiet so he didn't draw any more attention to himself.

Analyzing the situation in a critical manner was part of his job description, but it was currently acting as more of a coping mechanism. If he allowed himself to think about this too much (which he undoubtedly would as soon as he left this room), he'd promptly lose his shit.

The Number One Hero was the new heroics teacher at UA. The Symbol of Peace was actually a deflated version of himself that could only operate as a hero for up to three hours a day and only a handful of people knew about it. All Might was here, in the flesh, working with him, the very man his father had beaten it into him to hate simply because he was the best and Touya would never be able to reach that high with his powerful but dangerous dual quirk.

What the fuck was going on? What were they thinking? A spotlight constantly followed All Might wherever he went. Eyes would be on them the second the media found out about him being a teacher here. Everyone would scramble trying to find out why the Number One Hero would take so much time out of his super busy hero schedule to teach. Villains might even feel more comfortable committing crimes during the day. The school could become a target for an attack, something that had never happened in the history of UA.

Nope, he couldn't think about this too deeply. He was already this close to flipping the table and storming out of here. He had enough on his plate to consider this year as it was, what with Shouto taking the recommendation exam tomorrow. His father's attention would be on this school more than ever with Shouto a student here, but adding his most loathed rival into the equation would only make things worse.

Touya tried to subtly take a deep breath to cool his shit. He wouldn't freak out. The last thing he needed was any of the other teachers looking at him funny or, even worse, worrying about him. Luckily most of them were absorbed in their own shock and the discussion that had continued around him while he was locked in a mental war with himself. All he had to do was empty his mind until he felt absolutely nothing. He could let it all back in later when he was alone in his apartment and think about it until he spiraled then.

Kayama nudging him snapped Touya out of his reverie. He looked at her questioningly until he realized that all eyes were on him. Had he been thinking out loud? He didn't do that. He turned back to her for an answer.

"We're introducing ourselves to our new colleague," Kayama told him.

Oh, it was his turn. Touya's skin crawled when he caught eyes with All Might again. It suddenly didn't matter if he was in this weird, pathetic-looking form. That look in his eyes was the same from every interview and instantly transported him back ten-fifteen years ago when he was forced to listen to his father rail him about how someone as weak as him could never stack up against the top dog.

Touya didn't even bother to sit up in his seat or attempt to look more professional when he muttered, "Korihada Touya."

Using his mother's maiden name had been weird in the beginning when he first legally changed it - how many times had he accidentally ignored someone? - but years later, he was used to it. Getting referred to as Todoroki had always made him wince internally. When he decided to completely distance himself from Endeavor, his second step outside of running away and cutting off contact had been to change his looks and, when he had the financial means, his name. Lucky for him, fire quirks were common and it was easy to hide his ice resistance.

"You look quite young to be a teacher," All Might noted. Touya tried not to squirm. He didn't care about the light scars that covered parts of his skin. He was more concerned about All Might picking out details of his appearance that might remind him of a certain Number Two Hero. At least his red roots weren't showing. He always dyed his hair right before entrance exams. "I could have mistaken you for a Third Year if I wasn't paying attention."

Kayama fondly pat his cheek. "He's got such a baby face."

"Thanks, mom," Touya retorted.

Kayama narrowed her eyes, that soft look disappearing from her face. She didn't like her age being brought up. He thought it was kind of stupid. She was only thirty-one and that was hardly old - and he would be a lying dumbass if he didn't say she was very attractive - but she was finicky about it. If he ever wanted her to stop babying him, he usually said something about it and apologized vaguely later.

"What do you teach?" All Might asked curiously.

"I'm, ah, not exactly a teacher…" Touya cleared his throat. "It's difficult to explain, but essentially I work with students that have dangerous quirks and a proclivity to hurt themselves with them. We don't want our students, especially future heroes, to get into the habit of hurting themselves for the sake of being the best."

All Might blinked and smiled slowly. It looked weird on his thin, sharp face. "That's a very interesting take. I'd love to talk about it with you over tea some time."

Touya snorted. "No thanks. I'm not into debates."

The surprised look on All Might's face was worth getting elbowed in the side by Yamada. "What he means is 'thank you for your interest'. He's a good one and his input has helped UA greatly, but he's a bit rough around the edges. We're still house-training him."

"Hey, I don't bite anymore at least," Touya said. "Just bark." He glanced at Hound Dog. "No offense, my man."

Hound Dog just shook his head. Luckily the entire UA staff had thick skin. If they hadn't, Touya probably would've been tossed on his ass or out a window multiple times since being hired.

With his introduction finished, Touya turned his head away, signaling he was done with the whole ordeal. He was over the conversation. He wanted to go back to being ignored. He'd planned not to speak with him at all upon seeing him and he messed that up right away. Idiot. Opening his mouth was a mistake. He did not want to draw attention to himself and he had. What a dumbass. He was better than that.

All Might eyed him for an extra beat before turning his attention to Yamada, who very enthusiastically introduced himself and stole the show as usual. Aizawa looked about as thrilled to go next as Touya had felt. At least he wasn't alone in this. It was hard to gauge Aizawa's opinions about anything, considering he always looked torn between exhaustion and suspicion. Sometimes, he even looked disgruntled. Every once in a while, he actually smiled, but it was somewhat terrifying when he did. The few times Touya had witnessed it happen left him feeling concerned about what was going to happen next.

"As I said, you are not permitted to speak with anyone about what we discussed here today," Nezu reiterated. He wasn't that scary, considering he was a giant rodent, but there was a threatening gleam in his unnaturally intelligent eyes that made everyone think twice. "There will be immediate consequences in case of a leak. Toshinori has trusted us with this secret and we shall do everything we can to keep it."

Touya mimed zipping his mouth shut while everyone else nodded. No one kept a secret better than him. Nezu (and All Might) could count on him.

After the introductions concluded, they continued to talk more logistics and such, but Touya tuned them out. He wasn't much in the mood to listen to specifics. He'd get them from Aizawa later if they were important. As for now, he knew everything that he needed to know: All Might was the new heroics teacher and he wouldn't be the Number One Hero for much longer with an injury like that. In short, they were utterly fucked.

This was going to be a fun year.

* * *

"I need a fucking drink," Touya muttered as he stomped out of the room.

"It's eleven in the morning," Yamada pointed out.

"That's what the bottomless mimosas brunch special is for."

Aizawa merely shrugged his shoulders, hands stuffed into his baggy pants pockets. He looked like he could go for a drink too, even with the blood on his costume. The graveyard shift patrol for a hero could either be really boring or wild as hell. For an underground hero like Eraserhead, he tended to get into seedier shit than heroes in the spotlight. Over the years, Touya had managed to pry stories out of him after a beer or three; all of them left his stomach twisting.

"I'll drive," Kayama declared, twirling her keys around her pointer finger.

Without stopping, Touya pressed his palms together like he was praying and bowed slightly to her. "You are a gift, a blessing, a goddess in human form."

Kayama rolled her eyes, but smirked too. "Keep up the compliments and I might buy you your first drink."

"The most beautiful woman I have ever had the fortune of laying my eyes upon-"

Yamada sighed. "You're absolutely shameless, Touya."

"I'm broke," Touya corrected. "There's a difference."

A few UA staff members stayed behind to converse with All Might and Nezu longer, but the moment they were dismissed, Touya had all but scrambled out of the room. He didn't want to come off as desperate to escape, but he had been pretty damn desperate to get out of there. Maybe he was being paranoid, but he kept feeling eyes on him. There was no reason for All Might to glance at him repeatedly throughout the meeting, but Touya sank under the imaginary looks regardless. By the time the meeting was over, he felt like the deflated balloon instead of the Number One Hero.

Luckily, the other three teachers were too distracted by their own concerns to notice his tense silence. They were used to him falling into moody fits by now, but he did have a habit of talking a lot of shit. The fact that he wasn't right now stood out even to him, but there was nothing he could do to fix it. He was lost in his own head, memories of his father bitterly complaining about All Might while forcing him to use his quirk until he passed out mixing with blankly watching specials on TV about the hero with his siblings.

Touya had barely said a word by the time they reached their usual haunt. Aizawa was still in his blood-stained uniform, but didn't seem to care. No one batted an eye when they walked inside. It wasn't the brightest or cleanest of places, but it was a spot where they could go and no one would bother them. It wasn't filled to the brim with annoying heroes or hero fans. It was a good compromise between them and him. Nothing killed his mood like overhearing people talk about Endeavor and how cool he was.

True to her word, Kayama bought him his first drink, only to bring back some fruity concoction. Well, he had brought up mimosas. When Yamada waved a hand at the empty spaces in front of him and Aizawa, she only smiled and delicately sipped her drink, slipping into her seat with an unnatural grace. By the time Yamada returned with drinks, Touya had nearly finished his first. He just barely stopped himself from downing the rest and leaned back in his seat.

"Does anyone think this is going to be a shit show or is it just me?" Touya asked, staring up at the ceiling. Normally, the tv played a sports game, which he didn't give a shit about either, but the morning bartender had it on the news, which would inevitably turn to heroes at some point. "I can't be the only sane one here."

Yamada frowned. "I don't know if we should be talking about this in public."

"The place is damn near empty save for morning alcoholics and people sneaking drinks on their lunch break." Touya waved a hand around the room. "No one's paying attention to us."

"He has a point," Kayama murmured. "Plus, this is...an interesting step."

Touya considered his drink for a moment before finishing it and setting the glass down. "I don't like it. I don't think it's a good idea."

"What's your issue with All- Toshinori anyway?" Yamada asked curiously.

"I don't have an issue with him," Touya muttered, folding his arms across his chest like a moody child. All three pro heroes gave him matching looks of disbelief. Honestly, he was a better liar than that. He shouldn't have this much difficulty convincing them, but it was like he couldn't even try, not even during the meeting.

"Yeah, right," Yamada scoffed. "You just scowled and glowered at him like he ran over your cat during the entire meeting for no reason."

"I didn't do that!"

Kayama pat him on the shoulder. "You kind of did."

"Not to mention you kept drifting off," Aizawa added carefully. "You usually only do that when you're stressed out."

Touya stared at Aizawa incredulously. Betrayed by the one man he thought might agree with him. Aizawa didn't have his back all the time - they disagreed about a lot of things and Touya picked petty arguments like it was his job - but he had at least thought the underground hero would be with him when it came to working with the Number One. The two of them were like his fire and ice quirk. They were both strong in their own ways but did not mesh together very well. It would definitely be entertaining to watch those two work out their differences. Then again, Yamada and Kayama had probably thought the same when Touya was a student teacher under Aizawa.

"I don't have an issue with him," Touya insisted in a calmer tone. "I have an issue with the idea of him - the example, I guess." He grabbed his glass and swirled the bottom of it on the table in a circle. "He gives a lot of people the wrong idea about what it means to be a hero. Yeah, he inspires people, but not always for the right reasons - or with the right outcomes."

"What do you mean?" Yamada asked. "Everyone loves him! Well, not the villains, but even they know better than to act up when he's around."

Touya snorted. "Everyone does not love him. With that cheesy ass personality? A lot of people hate him and not just villains. I can't see him being totally loved by the hero community. There's been no competition for the top spot in years. The gap is too big."

Kayama swirled the straw around her drink, the ice clinking against the glass. "He's not wrong about that. I'm sure Endeavor hasn't enjoyed sitting stagnant at second. He's not known for his pleasant, positive attitude."

Her casual mention of Endeavor made Touya wince. She flashed him an apologetic look, but he waved her concern away. Shit, he must really be out of it if a single mention of his old man was enough to garner that much of a reaction. It was bound to happen sooner or later. As soon as Shouto showed up for the recommendation exam, they would know why he'd been distracted more than normal recently and Endeavor would get brought up anyway.

"No, he isn't," Touya agreed vaguely.

He was distracted, but he wasn't so distracted that he missed the glance between Kayama and Aizawa. Nope, he didn't like that look one bit. Kayama murmured, "Touya…" and laid a gentle hand on his arm, one that made him distinctly tense up. She reached out to comfort him first because she had been deemed the softer one that he responded to when he was upset. He hated that they knew him like that.

"I'm getting another drink." Touya stood and walked to the bartop before anyone could say anything. By the time he came back with a refresher, they would either be on a new conversation or past the bump in the road that was Endeavor. A bump that Touya could run over, then reverse, then run over again.

_C'mon, you stupid dumbass, _he thought viciously. _You don't really want to kill him anymore, so stop acting like it._

On the other hand, the dark daydreams were a nice coping mechanism and they didn't actually harm anyone. It wasn't like he was going to run off to become a villain so he could act on the intrusive thoughts or anything. After years of therapy and school, he had at least moved past that impulse.

The three pro heroes stopped talking when he sat back down, but he ignored them. If they were talking about him, fine. There was no sense in getting worked up about it when he was the one to leap out of the conversation like someone had lit a fire under his chair.

However, he had barely settled down in his chair when Aizawa declared, "You're right."

"About what?" Touya asked carefully.

Aizawa took a gulp of his beer. "I think this a bad idea. Someone this popular and polarizing will draw the attention of everyone - the media, public, and villains. All eyes will be on us. That many eyes usually means a target as well."

"No one has attacked UA since its conception," Yamada said. "Do you really think villains would now with him here? His mere existence is a natural deterrent for crime. So shouldn't they stay away from UA even more?"

Aizawa shrugged. "Perhaps."

"I'm just glad Nezu is waiting to announce his hiring until after entrance exams," Touya sighed as he leaned back in his chair again, "or we would've had a flurry of applications from kids who have no business becoming heroes."

"We already had too many as it was." Aizawa groaned. "The number of applicants grows every year and they're all already so..."

"Delusional?" Touya offered, a sharp, not-so-pleasant grin on his face. Aizawa sighed, but nodded his head. Kayama shot Touya a disapproving look white Yamada punched Aizawa in the arm. From the very beginning, they'd been more hopeful while he and Aizawa were more realistic.

The truth was not everyone could become a hero. A kid could dream about becoming one their entire lives because they idolized the pros on television, but in the end, it all depended on a person's quirk. It didn't always have to be flashy, like in Aizawa's or Kayama's cases, but it had to be versatile, strong, and compatible with both hero work and the person. It was cruel to let a kid keep dreaming about something that would never, ever happen in a million years.

How long had it taken Touya to realize he would never be a hero? How long had it taken him to accept that realization? And how long had it taken him to not let that realization eat away at his very being?

The three pro heroes with him might have known that he was actually Todoroki Touya and they might also know that his childhood with Endeavor hadn't been fun, but they didn't know the half of it. If he was fortunate, they never would. Aizawa knew more than the others, but that was only because he had a loose tongue when he was drunk and had gone on a rant about heroes encouraging dangerous behavior.

"He encourages an idealistic view of hero work," Aizawa said, shaking his head. "It's not good. I don't want to deal with bright-eyed children who think they have what it takes to be a hero when they don't. The image he projects isn't realistic."

Considering Aizawa had expelled his entire class the year before, he wasn't joking around. Touya had expressed some reservations about half of them during the entrance exam and then more serious observations after, but even he hadn't expected the class expulsion. One thing was for sure: Touya wouldn't have lasted a heartbeat had he tried to be a hero with Aizawa as his teacher - and it would've been for the best too. A lot of those kids moved on to better things they were more suited for. Maybe they were sour about it for a while, but it was a good thing.

Not everyone could be All Might.

"We're going to be under a lot of scrutiny and I, for one, am not looking forward to it," Touya said decisively. "Ugh, think of all the reporters sticking their noses in our business."

Aizawa grunted irritably while Yamada and Kayama made faces at each other. No one hated the media quite like Aizawa. In his opinion, the media interfered with hero work and turned a very dangerous job into a farce. Yamada did deal with the media a lot for his radio talk show, but he didn't enjoy it when they got in his face. Kayama shined the most in it out of all of them, but she had the misfortune of being a woman in her thirties, which the media loved to devour.

For the most part, heroes lived for the spotlight and craved media attention. They thrived on it. They lived for it. All they wanted was for their faces to be on television. They ate it up. Even All Might spent a lot of time in it, although, objectively speaking, Touya knew he was also an incredible hero, much more so than the many pros that clammered for a bit of limelight and money. That was all it was to them. Not everyone was in this business for altruistic reasons. In his experience, humans were invariably selfish by nature. Luckily, there were a few good ones, but there were rotten apples even amongst the supposed best of the best.

"Look on the bright side," Yamada said. "It's certainly going to be an interesting year!"

"I don't want 'interesting'," Aizawa grumbled. "I want consistent."

"I'm with Batman," Touya said, pointing at him with his drink. "A nice, quiet, easy year filled with students that don't abuse their work and go to ridiculous, wild lengths to become superheroes at sixteen and no one nearly kills themselves once or twice a month."

Yamada choked on his drink and sputtered out, "That's _funny _."

Touya narrowed his eyes. "I'm not being funny. All you heroes and wannabes with your so-called honorable self-sacrificing bullshit are gonna be the death of me. I'm stuck with these kids who think they have to break themselves repeatedly in order to make it to the top when some won't even break out of the sidekick rank. It sucks being so cold to these hopeful, little kids with all their big dreams."

"Please," Kayama scoffed. "You _love _being the asshole."

"Eh, you got me there," Touya admitted, "but I know what it's like. To want something so much and be right there and you just-" He tightened his free hand into a fist. "You just can't grab it." He relaxed his hand and looked down into his drink. "Toshinori has been around for a while. He was popular when I was a dumb, impressionable kid too, you know."

Yamada tilted his head. "I didn't peg you for a fan of his in your youth."

"I thought you didn't like pro heroes," Aizawa added dryly.

Touya smirked. "I don't. I just tolerate you three."

"Mmhm, you're lucky we tolerate you in return, little brother," Yamada teased, reaching over to ruffle Touya's already messy hair.

It took all his strength not to let his smirk falter, but thankfully he didn't break this time and the other three moved on to question Aizawa about his night patrol. Meanwhile, Touya slipped back into silence. He couldn't gulp his drink down like Aizawa, not when he'd asked the bartender to make it a double. Since Kayama offered to drive, he was going to take full advantage of it. Besides, he wanted to dull his nerves for the inevitable freak out over the situation he'd have once he was alone.

All Might, Shouto, and most likely his father in one year? Fucking great. What else could happen?


	2. Oooh He Needs Some MILK

Touya rarely bothered with his hair outside of dyeing it and making sure it looked like he'd rolled out of bed five minutes before, which didn't take much effort. The fact that he was picking at it now irritated him. Every time he realized what he was doing, he dropped his hand and scowled at it like it had betrayed him somehow. Yamada peered at him sideways, so many words on the tip of his tongue, but thankfully said nothing. There was nothing to say.

Yamada, Aizawa, and Kayama had all seen the name "Todoroki Shouto" listed amongst the recommended students.

Technically speaking, Touya didn't need to attend the Recommendation Exam. Any student on that list already knew how to control their quirk with utmost precision or they wouldn't have been suggested in the first place. The only reason he'd attended the last two years was because their quirks tended to also be on the more dangerous, flashy side, and he had a sick curiosity for how kids differently handled quirks like that. Most of them had already gone through lessons and been taught how to control their quirks, some even professionally if they had connections.

Shouto had definitely been trained to the best of his ability.

No matter how sick it made him, Touya couldn't deny his curiosity. He hadn't seen his father's piece de resistance since he was child. The scar on the left side of his face had still been fresh and almost as ugly as the ones Touya bore now. A boiling water burn was different from fire burns. Judging by the picture, Shouto had still grown into a handsome brat and powerful too if the statements in his file were correct. Everyone talked about how incredible the ice half of his quirk was - how overwhelmingly strong it could be.

There wasn't a single mention of his fire quirk, which was very intriguing indeed considering who their father was. The whole point of his birth - of all the Todoroki children's births - was the dual ice and fire quirk their father wanted.

As a quirk counselor of sorts, Touya had a right to the files of every potential UA student, but he knew Aizawa had been hesitant to hand over the stack for the recommended students. Just because he wasn't in his family's lives anymore didn't mean he forgot them entirely. He was ten years older than his baby brother. At fifteen, Shouto would be entering high school and, as the chosen child, he had no other option but to attend UA. Endeavor would make certain of it. No one was going to pass up on the Number Two Hero's child.

They would've passed up on him.

_I'm here now, aren't I? _Touya thought irritably as he flicked through the files. He didn't want to settle on Shouto's and be obvious with Yamada right there, but then there wasn't much of a point to keep up pretenses either.

"It's okay to be nervous," Yamada told him.

"I'm not. That's stupid."

"You haven't seen any of them in what? Nine years?"

About eight years and ten months, but who was counting? Not him.

Touya straightened in his seat and handed the files back to Yamada. He would need them more than him since he was the one conducting the practical exam. It was just a three-kilometer race using their quirks. There was no need for Touya to be here. He didn't need to watch them. He didn't need to see Shouto. He hadn't needed anything to do with his family in years. Not that all of them were bad, but it was easier to cut himself off the family tree entirely than hang on by a few painful splinters.

"Are you going to be here for the interviews?" Yamada asked.

"They're recorded, right?" Touya asked. Yamada nodded. "Then no. I've got better things to do - like that video on aliens and black holes I found on YouTube last night."

Yamada gave him a knowing look. "Why come at all?"

Touya didn't have a snappy response for that, and Yamada knew it. Damnit. He sometimes forgot Aizawa wasn't the only one that knew him well. Yamada honestly might be even worse because he was able to get into the heart of things that Aizawa danced around. He and Kayama openly showed their concern.

"It's also okay to want to see him."

"I don't." He didn't. Touya swore he didn't. "I don't even know him. I wasn't allowed to be around my siblings much when I-" He cleared his throat. "The moment his quirk manifested when he was five, Shouto was isolated from us so he could focus on his training." They were distractions. That was what Endeavor had called Fuyumi and Natsuo when Touya would cry about wanting to go to the park with them instead of training. No doubt he said the same thing to Shouto. It was strange - sharing so much with a kid he barely remembered. "I left home a year later. He probably can't even recall me."

Yamada shrugged. "Then what's the harm in sticking around?"

Because what if Shouto did somehow recognize him? Objectively speaking, Touya knew he wouldn't be able to avoid his brother for long. It would only be a matter of time before he figured out the truth. He knew their mother's maiden name and his first name. Maybe he should've changed that too, but honestly he hadn't thought that far ahead. It never occurred to him that he would one day be in the position to work at the same school his brother attended. He hadn't thought about crossing paths with his family again. Two years ago, he caught a glimpse of Endeavor on patrol, and the next thing he knew he was halfway across town in a train he didn't remember taking. Simply seeing his family never crossed his mind.

So why the hell _was _he here now? Was it really to torture himself? Sate his morbid curiosity? See what was so great about the kid that replaced him in their father's eyes as a success?

_You're sounding awfully close to being jealous of a teenager. Wow, that's a new low._

Fuck. His conscience _would _choose today to be mean. Why did he have to be so spiteful even towards himself? Couldn't he have a healthy self-esteem like normal people who came out of their traumatized childhood with a degree and excellent job?

A group of students stepped out of the building and walked to stand in a line. Touya hadn't seen Shouto in so fucking long, but he would've been able to pick him out of a mob had it been fifty years. His red and white hair made him stand out like a candy cane, but it was the cold look in his fifteen-year-old brother's eyes that caught Touya's attention. Ah, he knew that look. It was the same one their father wore. (It was the same one he wore when he was pissed.) That didn't belong on a teenager at all. It made him realize how awful he must've looked back when he first met Aizawa and the others. No wonder they had called him out on his shit right off the bat. He'd worn his anger on his face like a jackass for everyone to see.

"Oh," Yamada said, "he kind of looks like you."

Touya shot him a glare. "No, he doesn't."

"You're literally making the same look right now," Yamada pointed out. He was not. He was simply giving him a look that suggested Yamada shut the hell up. Too bad for Touya - shutting up was not one of Yamada's qualities. "I remember when your hair was that red. The dye you stole bled out within like two weeks. You were always so distraught when that happened."

Gritting his teeth, Touya ground out, "Can we not talk about that?"

"Right, sorry." Yamada flashed him an apologetic smile. "Well, I've got to greet our potential students and start this exam. Stay here."

Touya folded his arms across his chest. "And if I don't?"

Yamada tilted his glasses down and winked, undeterred by his difficult nature. "Then you'll miss one hell of a show, won't you?"

The recommended students had already taken the written portion of their exam. After the race would be the interview, which he definitely had no intentions of partaking in. He hadn't before and wouldn't make an exception now. Maybe he would watch Shouto's interview later, if only to glean a bit more information on the brother he'd pretended didn't exist for years. He needed to know what he was like if he was going to have to deal with him. Plus, he wanted to know: besides that look in Shouto's eyes, was he anything else like their old man?

Despite a voice yelling at him to turn his back, leave, and put this behind him, Touya stayed off to the side with a few other teachers as Yamada explained the practical exam. It was nothing compared to the hero entrance exam. These students had already proven themselves to be strong and capable enough to pass that. Honestly, the recommendation exam was a formality, but only four students were let in like this, sometimes five if one proved particularly adept at creating support gear, which was a lot more important than people gave it credit for.

During Yamada's usual over-the-top explanation, Shouto didn't blink once, totally unphased, while the other kids looked on in excitement. He wasn't even looking at Yamada, already zeroed in on the finish line of the race course. The look on his face was easy to read even from a distance: _This is nothing to me, just another step. _If his records were anything to indicate, he wasn't wrong. Touya could vaguely recall his ice ability. After eight more years of developing it, he could probably use it to glide forward at an incredibly fast speed. Their father could use his flames to hover. Touya could, in theory, do even more if he wanted to fry his arms up.

What had he been saying about support gear earlier?

Just as Touya suspected, when the race started, Shouto shot into the front running almost immediately. That ice didn't just help him glide into first. It was no contest. It propelled him forward like some sort of rocket. Touya was certain he'd slide right into first place - until the insanely boisterous kid with a wind quirk surpassed him at the last second and won. A bark of laughter almost escaped Touya, but he clenched his jaw and kept it in, wearing his most bored expression. For a moment, Shouto looked stunned at having lost, the first real emotion he showed, but then it was gone in a flash, that cold, unapproachable look back on his face.

Touya would tell him to lighten up, but he'd likely been punished for doing that. Sad times.

"The recommended students are particularly good this year."

"Well, it makes sense since Endeavor's son is on the list."

"We have some unique quirks this year too! I never would've thought that a Softening quirk would be so useful in a hero capacity."

"I particularly like Yaoyorozu's Creation. It's very interesting."

"Yeah, but Half Hot/Half Cold - that's like the perfect combination."

Touya did his best not to grit his teeth or react, but he could feel his quirk boiling underneath his skin, threatening to seep out. Trying to be as discreet as possible, he took a small breath and let it out, relaxing his arms so he wasn't holding himself together tightly. The perfect combination. They had no idea. Aizawa and the others had more than an inkling, but most of the other teachers didn't really know him outside of what he told them. No one but those three and Nezu knew about his dual quirk - the not-so-perfect combination, the dud, the failure.

Now he was going to have to deal with his perfect mirror image glancing his way at school with those cold eyes like their father's. His school. His home. This was _his _place. He'd made it into something. No, the other teachers didn't know him well, but they liked him despite his crass personality, bad spending habits, and refusal to dress himself properly unless he had to look official for some reason. He had… Well, okay, they weren't a family, but they were something that he'd not had with his blood relatives.

Someone laid a hand on his shoulder. He turned to find Snipe peering at him behind his goggles. "Are you okay?"

"Peachy," Touya replied dryly. He waved a hand at them. "You kids have fun with the rest of this dog and pony show. I've got prep work for the actual exams tomorrow."

He ignored Aizawa's eyes on his back and the frown on Yamada's face as he walked away. They wouldn't stop him. Luckily, Kayama wasn't here to do it, although there was always the awful possibility she would show up at his place later or call him asking if he wanted to talk. No, he didn't want to talk. If he did, he certainly wouldn't tell them. He'd just suffer in silence like every other emotionally stunted twenty-five-year-old asshole.

The last thing he wanted to talk about was how his fifteen-year-old brother was clearly stronger than him only using half of his quirk.

Still, he couldn't help but wonder as he made his way back to his apartment. Why only half? Nothing on those records mentioned his fire half and, while the other teachers had been in awe about his quirk, they hadn't actually seen him use full use of it. Touya wasn't even sure of the range and capabilities of Shouto's fire. What was he capable of now?

One of the few, clear memories Touya had of Shouto was when he was five. He only knew Shouto was five because of the bandages over his left eye. He'd come out of training with their father, tears welled up in his good eye, holding his left hand like it was cursed. Touya had been passing by when he noticed the smoke coming from his hand and recognized what happened immediately: Endeavor had forced him to use his fire quirk until he no longer could - until he essentially burned out. That was hard as fuck on a five-year-old. Touya would know.

Not knowing what else to do and realizing their father wasn't around at the moment, Touya bent down to examine his little brother's hand. _"It's okay. You're fine. Just don't use it for a while."_

_"I don't want to use it ever again," _his little brother had cried.

Touya knew that feeling too, but it wasn't like Shouto had a choice. Their father would force it out of him one way or another. He could resist all he wanted, but eventually he would cave like everyone else. They all either bent to his whims or they broke.

Instead of agreeing or arguing with him, Touya had held open his palm and let a tiny flame flicker to life, going from orange to white until it finally settled on blue. Shouto had stared at it, the fire glimmering in his grey eye. _"See? It's not so bad, is it?"_

_"Then how come you don't use your fire?" _Shouto had asked flatly. The flame snuffed out, and Touya closed his hand. Because it was bad. Because it hurt like hell if he let it go past his hands. Because no matter how strong and hot his flames were, they would never be good enough, and he couldn't stand them. Having that thrown in his face by a five-year-old who didn't know shit (who had been through so much shit) made his stomach roll.

Just thinking about it now made Touya uncomfortable. He didn't have many memories of Shouto. He remembered him being close to their mother before his quirk manifested, like all of them were since their father only cared about that. He remembered the boiling water incident. He remembered Shouto crying and wondering if Fuyumi and Natsuo used to wish he'd shut up when it had been Touya in the training room. He remembered the relief, jealousy, and absolute fear when Shouto's perfect quirk manifested.

It was funny. Shouto's eyes had glanced over him once after the race, but Shouto had turned away like he hadn't even seen him. There was a chance he didn't remember Touya at all. Touya might have been the one to burn the bridge, but he'd learned it from their father, who knew how to burn every trace of a person of his life once he deemed them unnecessary.

This sure was gonna be a fun ass year.

* * *

There was an entire list of things Touya did not like to do - a list of things he, as a fully functional adult, refused to force upon himself. One of those things happened to be eating fresh octopus. It moved around too much and made his stomach queasy with the thought that it might stick to his throat and suffocate him. Death by dead octopus legs did not sound like a fun way to go. His sensitive stomach prevented him from eating a lot of things, but _that _was strictly a choice for him. No one in this entire godforsaken world would ever be able to convince him to put octopus in his mouth.

Another item on this list of things he refused to do to himself was waking up at the ass crack of dawn just to go to school. Okay, so maybe it wasn't the ass crack of dawn, but it was pretty damn early by his standards. Anything before noon stood on the early side for him. Nonetheless, he had to drag himself out of bed, mainly because he knew the incessant knocking on his front door would not stop.

Clad in his pajama pants, he trudged to the door and opened it to find Aizawa standing outside. Not that the man ever looked happy, but his narrowed eyes made him look more annoyed than usual. Touya left him standing in the doorway without a word in favor of walking to the bathroom. He took his time showering and dressing, although his outfit wasn't that much better than his pajamas. It was a long sleeve shirt and some dark jeans, but it was better than wearing the sweatpants that Aizawa called a hero uniform to work.

"Do you need coffee?" Aizawa called from the kitchen.

Touya couldn't bring himself to answer, shuffling tiredly into his kitchen only to have a travel mug shoved into his chest, coffee sloshing over the rim. Good thing he hadn't worn a white shirt or it would've been stained. The look he gave his coworker screamed that if he were more awake, he wouldn't hesitate.

The pro hero simply lead him out of the apartment, waiting patiently for the younger man to put his shoes on and lock up behind them. Touya sipped from his mug and let out a hum of appreciation. Aizawa always made the best coffee. Well, actually, he made the strongest coffee Touya had ever had, but it was better that way. He needed it since he slept like the dead once he was out.

He slid into the front passenger seat of Aizawa's car, holding onto his mug like it held the secrets of life itself. It took him a full ten minutes before he realized Aizawa was talking. Glancing over his shoulder, he noticed someone in the back and turned fully to stare at the deflated form of the Number One Hero. They blinked at each other. Did All Might actually have eyes? They were so sunken; Touya couldn't see any eyelids or lashes. It was like staring at two glowing orbs in the dark.

"Good morning, Mr. Korihada."

Touya turned to Aizawa and narrowed his eyes at the man's utter betrayal.

"Say good morning, Touya. You're being rude."

Touya sank down into his seat and sipped his coffee some more to get out a greeting, but he could feel Aizawa's disapproval weighing down on him. "Morning."

He desperately hoped the ride to work didn't involve anymore talking. Not only was he too tired for it, but he didn't have the desire to fake it with All Might. He never really understood how Aizawa was capable of coherent thinking so early in the morning considering how often the guy stayed out late doing hero work. Guess some mysteries would remain unsolved.

"Buzzfeed Unsolved…" he muttered under his breath.

"What?" All Might prompted in confusion.

Nope, not dealing with that. Touya didn't respond or speak for the rest of the ride, but he definitely felt more awake than he had earlier, so that was a plus at least. The three of them walked into UA together with Touya kind of lagging behind. He didn't feel like walking fast. It took up the energy he had just gained from his coffee.

Aizawa looked back at him, annoyed. "There's more coffee inside. Hurry up before you get lost." Just to be an ass, Touya purposely slowed his pace, dragging his feet enough to make his shuffling even louder. "Are you serious, Touya? Get your ass inside before I drag you inside."

He glanced at All Might, who looked very confused, as he passed through the doorway that led to the viewing room. Soon they were seated, Aizawa sitting between him and the Numero Uno Hero. Kayama sat on his other side followed by Kan, who had bear hugged him the moment he entered the damn building.

"We need to get you used to waking up early, Touya," Kayama said, her hero mask sliding down her nose like her glasses normally would. "You're much too young to be this tired at nine."

Touya simply grunted in response, chugging more from his newly refilled mug. In his lap sat a notebook and a list of names of all the applicants along with their pictures and quirks. When the practical exam began, he would be able to see them on the screen, but it was good to have a name to the face. It simply made his job easier when he could pinpoint a quirk based on a kid's face without having to guess. It would still be a few minutes before the exams actually started, so Touya stood to pour himself more coffee.

"By this rate, we're going to run out of coffee before the exams start," Nezu joked blandly. The teachers around him laughed.

Touya scoffed softly. "I can't afford my own right now."

"He speaks!" Kan gasped dramatically. Touya flipped him the bird and sat back down.

Aizawa gently nudged him. "You can't afford your own?"

"I broke my last one. Do you have any idea how much a coffee machine costs?" He chugged his drink. It burned his tongue, but whatever. He'd suffered worse pain than a burnt mouth.

The underground hero rolled his eyes at him. "Just buy a cheap one."

"Help me, I'm poor," Touya whined, sagging into his seat.

Aizawa shook his head, pointedly turning around and ignoring his cry for help. Some hero he was. "You're fine."

"No, I'm dying."

"Then I guess you'll just die."

Touya sat up immediately and stared at Aizawa in shock for almost solid minute. "That was almost a meme. I've never been prouder. If only Yamada was here to see it too."

Aizawa didn't respond, watching the screens in front of them as they came to life to show Yamada quite literally shouting at the students. At this point, Touya didn't need to pay attention to the rules. Three years was enough time to memorize exactly what these kids had to do in order to get into the hero course. The students who didn't pass either went into the general studies or didn't get into the school at all. When he was younger, he thought the entrance exam might be a bit harsh, but after taking entrance exams for five different colleges, Touya realized they all made this exam look a hundred times easier. He'd rather face a robot that might maim but wouldn't kill him. He never realized how hard it would be to become a teacher, yet somehow he made it.

Once the exams commenced, Touya kept his eyes glued to the screens. Some kids had naturally amazing quirks. He could've sworn one was shooting a laser from anywhere other than his stomach, but his quirk literally said Naval Laser on the sheet, so he rolled with it. Most kids who applied to the hero course were kids who had some semblance of control over their quirk, but a lot of them didn't have exceedingly dangerous ones. That was what UA was for: turning a seemingly innocent quirk into one that could be used to take down villains. And then there was the kid whose hands shot out explosions. That quirk was dangerous for a whole list of reasons he didn't feel like going through. Touya had no want to ever see that smug little shit in his class. The murderous smile irked him to no end.

Destroyed robot parts and debris scattered each battlefield. It never ceased to amaze him what quirks could do, but he wasn't watching for that. His eyes scanned the screens for any injuries caused by quirks and he wrote down every single name he thought could benefit from his class. As the timer started to run out, Touya had a well-formed list of students, their quirks, and how their quirks affected them. Not all of them would cross his path, but it was better to be prepared and keep an eye on them just in case.

His eyes wandered the screen before dropping down to his notebook. With the zero point robot attacking, most students would run away, unused to facing something so massive. However, a sudden blur on one screen pulled his attention away from his notes. His jaw nearly dropped when a kid he glanced over previously for acting like a big baby punched the shit out of the bot, absolutely wrecking it.

"He's embodying what it means to be a true hero," All Might said in awe, as if narrating to himself. "There's nothing nobler than self-sacrifice."

Touya stiffened in his seat and turned to give him an incredulous look. "You know what's nobler than self-sacrifice? Living so you can keep on saving people."

Even if a hero didn't die in the line of fire, they could injure themselves to the point of taking themselves out of commission. How many times had Aizawa stumbled back with broken ribs, black eyes, and knife wounds? He was a damn good hero, but even damn good ones got hurt. Even his father had been hurt a few times, although you would've been hard-pressed to get him to admit it. Touya only knew because training was always worse when he was.

All Might gawked at him in surprise, like no one had ever dared to speak with him like that. Aizawa probably would later on, if only because he didn't drink that idealistic, honorable heroes kool-aid, but even Touya was startled by his spiteful reaction. He had planned on ignoring All Might for as long as possible, but the moment his stupid ass had to glorify self-sacrifice, Touya was smacked in the face with all the times he'd burned himself like a human barbeque in order to prove his worth. Giving it his plus ultra. Doing whatever he could to succeed, even at the cost of himself.

Fuck that ideology and fuck All Might, one of the largest influences in society, for spouting it.

When Touya turned back to the screen, determined to not say another word to his new colleague, he was caught off guard upon finding the kid falling from the sky, his legs and right arm flapping in the wind. Leaning forward, Touya's body tensed up as he watched the kid got closer and closer to the ground without slowing.

He jumped to his feet, eyes wide as the kid fell. "Is no one gonna catch him?"

Not a word was spoken. He wasn't even sure anyone was breathing. The room was filled with pro heroes, but none of them could do a damn thing here. What about Yamada? Where the hell was he? Was he watching over a different exam right now?

No one actually heard the slap that caught the poor kid across the face and floated him in the air, but every single teacher in the room winced, including Touya. He almost raised a hand to his own cheek. There was no mercy in that slap. As soon as the boy was safely on the ground, the girl who delivered it promptly bowed her head and vomited on the ground in front of her.

Touya stepped closer to the screen. "Holy shit, he broke three of his limbs." Turning to look at the teachers around him, he pointed to the kid. "Let's hope he broke them from the robot. If he's that bad at controlling his quirk..."

It went without saying. One broken limb wasn't uncommon in the hero entrance exam where kids were put in the position of fighting with their quirks for the first time, but three was insane.

Sitting back down, he watched as the teachers judged the two students' actions for rescue points. In his opinion, those were the most important part of the exam. Anyone could fight if pushed into a corner, but not everyone had the gall or self-awareness to save. He did have to hand it to the kid: when his fellow test takers ran away or ignored it altogether in favor of the robots that would give them points, he jumped to the rescue of a girl he didn't even know, costing him precious time to gain a single point.

However, he also couldn't ignore the fact that he'd rendered himself useless with one hit. As incredible as it had been, a child could've taken him out with the state he was in now.

Kayama balked when he held up his points panel. "Four? Touya, you can't be serious. Did you see the same thing we did?"

"You know, I was wondering the same thing," Touya replied, "considering I saw a kid demolish his body in one go."

"Even you said it could've been the bot," Kan pointed out.

"Then he should've considered that. He wouldn't be able to save a fly with both his legs and his arm shattered."

"But four?" Kayama exclaimed. "He can improve once he's here so he doesn't do that! With a quirk like that, we could help shape him to become an incredible hero here."

"This is what being a hero is about," All Might added. The guy just had to keep on with his rhetoric.

Touya hardened his expression. "You know what?" Without breaking eye contact with Kayama, he set the four point panel aside and lifted the three point panel. "I changed my mind." She pressed her lips together in a thin line, glaring at him behind her mask, but he didn't give in. He knew he was being difficult on purpose, but he didn't care. Aizawa hadn't given a high score either, but his six points was still better than Touya's three. "He's going to get in anyways with this many rescue points."

"Then we better do our jobs," Kayama said coolly as she slowly set her panel down.

Yamada's announce that time was up echoed throughout the room. With the exams done and Recovery Girl heading out to heal the dumbass kid's arm and legs, the young teacher looked over his notes. He could honestly say there were more students in the general classes he wanted to work with this year. They had less opportunity to use their quirks safely and that was something he could relate to. How many times had he injured himself because of improper supervision or shitty training?

While Touya wasn't the one to assign the students to classes, he did have a small say in what students went to which homeroom teacher. Some of the more problematic ones could benefit better with guidance from certain heroes and teachers. Nezu always seriously considered his opinion. They had a certain understanding when it came to the safety of the students. Touya hated the fact that he felt any sort of pride over his opinion being considered, but he did. It felt nice to be trusted.

The little creature (Rat? Bear? A mix of the two? Touya had no fucking clue) wandered over to him and sat beside him. "What do you think?"

"I think the kids with the more difficult quirks should be split," Touya said, his eyes never leaving his notes. "Aizawa will pull his hair out if he gets the explosion kid, the kid who can faze in and out of shadows, the copycat, and All Might Jr." All Might choked and coughed into his napkin, but Touya ignored him. "I think you should seriously consider that all these kids are under the delusion that being a hero means having a strong quirk. We saw a lot, but we have no idea what kind of practice they have using them in hero scenarios other than today."

Nezu nodded, looking at the screen in front of them. UA was known for its hero program. Touya also knew it was by far the most difficult and that kind of pressure could take a toll on its students. It was the reason Aizawa was so hard on his students. It was why Touya had to be the voice of reason. Not everyone could mentally handle what pros did on a daily basis.

"We must consider the classes extra carefully this year then," Nezu commented offhandedly.

Touya nodded. "There's no other way around it. As far as I can tell, at first glance, there are over thirty students who could end up in my class."

"That number seems to keep growing every year," Nezu stated, a polite smile on his weird rat/bear/cat face.

"It's only been two years."

"And somehow, you've managed to double the amount of students you think need more direction," the Principal quipped back.

Touya rolled his eyes, sitting back in his chair comfortably. "Would you prefer it if I weren't honest with you from the get-go?"

"Of course not. Your perspective and input have always benefited me in helping the next generation of heros."

"Great, let me just say something the. This particular generation grew up with All Might being the Symbol of Peace. They also grew up in a time where anyone could become a hero. No, don't give me that look, Nezu. There is literally a hero whose entire costume is a washing machine. Anyone with a useful enough quirk has a legitimate chance at becoming a pro. There's a kid who thinks that just because his hair can come off his head and stick to things, he has a real chance at being a pro-hero. The problem is that people are becoming heros because it's the best way to get paid well, to get famous, to get away with things that normal people can't.

"So, tell me: how is it not an obvious issue when a student, who has an actual chance at being a _real _hero, probably won't last long because they think their lives don't matter as much as the people's they're saving? These kids thrived off watching their heroes do more than they ever should and think they should do the same. That doesn't sit well with me - a civilian - and it shouldn't sit well with the pros currently working."

Touya stretched his legs out in front of him, shoving his hands as far into his pockets he could while he watched Nezu absorb his words. He'd spoken much more than he'd intended to, but every damn year so far he'd been forced to watch kids break themselves in order to live up to the abilities and expectations of the heroes they saw on television. Every year, he watched a few of those kids drop off the map. Two didn't seem like much, but it was more than enough when he knew some of the students he'd seen graduate wouldn't break the top one hundred or survive the next ten years. It sucked.

The rat simply offered him another polite smile after a moment. "You do have a point, Mr. Korihada. We'll take your suggestions into consideration as always."

The dark-haired man nodded absently and stood to get himself some more coffee. The day wasn't done yet. He would most likely spend the next few hours with Nezu, placing students with the most compatible teachers for all the courses. Touya scrubbed a hand down his face, trying to fight off the idea of napping for twenty minutes while he waited. He wanted to just go home like the rest of the teachers - like Aizawa who he knew was going to take a nap - but he knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. He had a job to do, after all.

By the time he'd refilled his coffee, the room was mostly empty aside from the principal. He moved towards Nezu before plopping himself down in the chair beside him.

"Let's get started!" Nezu said excitedly.

"I want to go home," Touya muttered quietly.

Nezu simply laughed. "Soon, Mr. Korihada."

Touya desperately hoped he was right. Paperwork was draining.


	3. Thnx for Checking In: I'm Still Garbage

Notes: Thanks for reminding me that I forget to update on this site. The title of this chapter also describes me. :)

* * *

The general exam for the remaining courses was the same written exam the hero course and the recommended students had to take, but they were the first courses Touya made an appearance to when explaining his role at UA. He typically dealt with hero course students more, but he preferred to give the easier talk first. Still, Touya loathed the idea that he had to be awake at six am for this weird orientation class. Aizawa never came to them, so he had no one to grouse to as he trudged through the halls.

Aside from some of the course teachers outside waiting for him, the hallways were empty. Since he was early, he stopped by the break room to refill his coffee cup a couple of times, as he usually was when Aizawa drove him. The man loved to get his naps in before school actually started. Touya wanted to kick his own ass for not doing the same thing, but whatever. He should have gone to bed earlier than four am. Two hours of sleep was not going to get him through the whole day. Maybe Nezu would let him leave early.

With his coffee refilled, he made his way to the auditorium that held the students who had managed to get into UA for General Studies, Support, and Business. Despite UA being one of the toughest high schools in Japan, the written exam wasn't as difficult as it could've been, in his opinion. Then again, he might've been a little biased since he'd fought to get into college without a high school education. Even when he'd passed those exams, many universities did not want a high school dropout amongst their top-rated students.

The auditorium was loud and boisterous, the orientation mostly over aside from his little speech. _High schoolers, _Touya groaned internally. Still, he had to explain who he was to these kids. Even though most people only paid attention to the hero students, Touya found the students outside of that course were some of the most interesting one-on-one sessions he'd had. The teachers that taught mostly outside of the hero course were all relatively nice to him as well. As soon as they saw him coming, they jumped to their feet to quiet down the students.

"We have someone here to guide you through the school year," one of the teachers announced once the students were paying attention again. "This is Mr. Korihada!"

Touya gave the teachers a curious glance. "Anyone stand out so far?"

"A few."

The young teacher made a face and turned to the students. "What's up? I'm Touya Korihada. There is a list of things I go over with each course, so let's get started." He took a moment to pull out a packet of paper, scratching at his face carefully. "Alright… So many of you probably won't see much of me. That's fine. In fact, I prefer it that way. I'm not a huge part of this school anyway.

"Technically speaking, I'm the school's quirk counselor. That means I specialize in working with people who have limited control over their quirk. Dangerous quirks are something I'm very familiar with. Considering all of you are looking at me and thinking, 'how the hell did he get those scars?', it should be obvious. They're from the destructive use of my quirk when I was younger. Anyway, I'm here to work with you if you have certain drawbacks to your quirk and help you live a safer, more fulfilling life.

"Next, let's talk about the school rules. I hope you read through everything, but you're all like fifteen and probably just yeet the packet as far from you as possible. Don't worry; I did too." Actually, he usually burned paperwork like that to ashes. Less trash to deal with that way. "We're not going to go through the whole packet, just touch on some of the topics I feel are the most important.

"One, I don't care about your relationships. If I see you holding hands or just kissing, I'm not going to say anything. Other teachers might not care too much if they see you doing that either, but some are stricter than others, so keep that in mind. However, this is a school. If I catch you fucking anywhere on the campus, I will suspend you so fast that your tiny heads will spin. The reason we have this rule is more for our benefit than yours."

Several murmurs around the auditorium didn't deter him. It was normal for the new students to wonder if that had actually happened. It had. The first time had mentally scarred him forever. And the second. The third too. Actually, all six times it happened would stick fresh in his already defective brain. He wasn't good at forgetting things. Traumatic events tended to linger, and that included walking in on a couple of third years going at it.

"Two, this school has an anti-bullying policy – which I created. If I see any one of you bullying someone else, I will expel your ass. There are things that you just don't say to another person; if I hear anything that crosses that line, you'll ruin your whole life. Imagine trying to get into any other prestigious school when you have an expulsion from UA on your record. Yeah, it's not easy, so don't be an asshole.

"Three, let's talk dangerous quirks. Many of you are in these classes because you picked them or you failed the Hero Course Exam. If you originally or also applied for the Hero course, raise your hand." Several hands raised. "Alright, new game. How many of you got hurt during the exam?" A few hands fell. "How many of you got hurt by your own quirks?"

More hands went down. Ah, there it was – that divide. For the most part, even fifteen-year-olds were aware of their quirks enough to not injure themselves with them. People weren't supposed to use their quirks in combat, but that didn't stop kids from experimenting with them. They had to if they were planning on attending hero schools. There were a few kids, however, with quirks that were built for self-destruction if they weren't careful. The pressure that entrance exams brought could push those kids over that line.

"Alright, thanks for participating. When a quirk is incompatible with its user, it can cause a multitude of problems. Mental health can deteriorate and physical health is put at risk. I am here to help you through that. I expect to see all of the students who hurt themselves during the exam or simply hurt themselves with their quirk at least once in my office at some point, especially if you plan on trying to worm your way into the Hero course still."

Touya gave a small cough into his hand before turning back to the students. "Alright, I've talked way longer than I'm used to, so I'll start taking questions."

A hand shot up so quickly that he swore the kid almost jumped out of his seat. "What exactly is your position in the school?"

"Counselor technically," Touya drawled.

"Is that all you are?" the kid asked again. If Touya didn't know better, he'd think he was getting interviewed for a job again.

"No, as a licensed counselor, I lend my expertise to court cases when asked and am also involved in social work."

The kid was quiet for a moment, eventually standing so Touya could actually see who was talking. The boy had purple hair and looked like he hadn't slept a wink his entire life. The older man squinted at the kid, his thoughts immediately flitting to Aizawa. If he didn't know Aizawa's age, he'd think the older man had gotten around some in his younger days.

"What do you do for all the classes?"

"...Kid, I literally just explained it to you."

"The Hero Course specifically then."

A headache started to throb in his temple, annoyance flooding him. Most kids in the other courses waited to ask such nosy questions right before the Sports Festival. "I make sure they don't kill themselves."

"How?"

"Most are recommended to see me by their homeroom teachers," Touya grumbled. Why did this kid have so many questions?

"What happens when someone doesn't improve their quirk? Either in a Hero Course or not."

Now that was a good question. Touya took a deep breath before he started to explain. "Students – and I mean, any class student – are sent to me first as a recommendation. If you don't improve after that first few sessions, you're put in a specialized class with me after school to learn how to safely use your quirks. If that takes more unique support gear, I get you set up that much quicker. If by the end of your second year in a Hero Course you have not improved, you get pulled from the course itself. Can't be a hero if you keep hurting yourself and require someone else to save you. You can still graduate from UA, but you will be required to see me for however long it takes you to live a fulfilling life without a quirk that could kill you."

The boy stared at him. Despite his relaxed posture and bored expression, Touya could see understanding dawning on his face. Not many kids asked so many questions when he did these speeches, but this kid wanted to know more. Tired as he was, Touya wouldn't leave him hanging. The other students didn't seem to grasp what it meant when someone got pulled from the Hero Course, but this weird, tired, purple-haired teenager seemed to understand. If a student didn't make it past Touya, that meant no graduation, provisional hero license revoked, and a completely different life path.

He wasn't here to fuck around with these kids' lives.

"That's all for today. Enjoy your classes for the day. I hope the teachers make it easier for your first day," Touya said, addressing the whole auditorium. Teachers stood to collect their students, but the kid with all the questions weaved his way down the row and then the steps toward him.

A groan almost left him unwillingly, but Touya held it down. Hadn't he answered enough questions? Still, he moved around the podium and took a seat at the end of the stage. The boy moved up the steps of stage right before plopping down next to him.

_Mood_, Touya thought, sipping from his coffee.

"What's your name, kid?" he asked.

"Shinsou Hitoshi."

Touya stuck his hand out for the kid to shake. "Quite the curious one, aren't you?"

The kid shook his hand slowly and admitted, "Just wanted to know what would happen if I ever got into the Hero Course."

Planning ahead already. How proactive. Touya tilted his head and let his hand drop back down in his lap. "What's your quirk?"

"Brainwashing."

Touya raised his eyebrows in curiosity. "Damn, that's sick as hell. How does it work?"

"I ask a question; they answer. Brainwashed. I can tell a person to do something simple and they'll do it."

"That's useful." Touya hummed thoughtfully. What a peaceful quirk. "Why aren't you already in the Hero Course?"

Shinsou shrugged and looked away in embarrassment. Ah, of course. Touya made a face and then nodded. Yeah, he could see how this kid slipped through the cracks. It was hard to be noticed when your quirk wasn't able to be used against robots. He couldn't brainwash something that didn't have a brain. Mental quirks were excellent powers and typically not as dangerous, but they were often overlooked early on for the flashier quirks. A flaw in the system that they would have to fix. Aizawa grumble-ranted about it enough for even Touya to feel passionate about the topic.

Touya gently nudged the kid with his coffee mug. "Don't worry. You have an actual shot. The Sports Festival will draw attention to what you can do." With an awkward pat to the kid's surprisingly soft hair (was it just like that?), Touya stood to leave. "As I'm sure you inferred, openings sometimes appear in the Hero course if I decide a student can't hack it. Keep an eye on those classes, and you might be able to slip in." He pointed a finger at him. "Just don't nearly kill yourself trying to get in. I watch the Gen Studies students very closely."

"Why? Are the hero students more important?"

"All the students are equally important to me, even if I work with the hero ones more." Touya drained the rest of his coffee. "But I know what it feels like when you've got something to prove. Some people will go to any lengths to prove themselves."

He had the scars to show for it.

* * *

Later that evening, Touya pressed two fingers as hard as he could against his left temple as if he could rub the oncoming headache out before it hit him full force. It was coming. He could tell by the way one eye twitched and the knowing look on Aizawa's face. Considering he looked like he was one step away from being a zombie most of the time, the man was difficult to read at best, but he always wore a specific look on his face when he was about to recommend a student to him. A semester-long headache was sure to follow.

With his quirk erasing abilities, Aizawa was the best-equipped to deal with students who were ill-equipped to deal with their own quirks. He was an excellent hero. To this day, Touya still told people Eraserhead was his favorite hero whenever he was asked even if Aizawa was right there to cuff him upside the head. He was an even better teacher. Most people might not think it of him, but Aizawa was a natural-born teacher in his own way. He was probably the biggest reason Touya was here, aside from the realization he could spite his dad by thriving in society instead of turning away from it.

Still, Aizawa was also one of the main teachers who recommended students to Touya for counseling and later on his class, if only because he was often forced to erase their quirks before they hurt themselves. It must've hurt his eyes something fierce. Touya had scoured the internet for better eye drops, but none of them seemed to fix his dry eyes. Maybe if he didn't glare so much, they wouldn't be so dry. He shared that tidbit once. Aizawa hadn't been amused or appreciative of the suggestion.

"I'm gonna have to talk to this kid, aren't I?" Touya huffed.

"More than likely," Aizawa said, absolutely savage in his honesty. The guy could stand to be a little softer, but no, he had to be Mr. Hard Ass all the time.

Midoriya Izuku – Problem Child Number One, already on Touya's shit list and it was only day one of the semester.

Instead of allowing his class to attend orientation like a normal homeroom teacher, Aizawa had forced Class 1-A to participate in a physical exam using their quirks. That sounded like him. He liked to hit the ground running. He'd also hung the threat of expulsion over their heads like a total asshole. Yeah, that was definitely him. It did push the kids into giving their all – or at least what they thought was their all – including one Midoriya, who attempted to break his arm in the process. Thanks to Aizawa's brutal honesty, he only broke a finger.

It didn't really count for much when Touya remembered the way the kid broke his arm and both legs during the Entrance Exam. He'd hoped it was due to punching the shit out of that zero point robot, but in his crumpled, little soul, he knew the truth. The kid's quirk had done it to him. It was like his body didn't know how to handle it. A lot of kids' quirks turned against them when they first manifested, but this kid was fifteen. He shouldn't have suffered such a serious blowback from his quirk.

Unless his body wasn't suited to his quirk. That was usually remedied by support gear, but he had no clue how to go about that. He'd taken a lot of classes on quirks, but he wasn't a doctor. In more severe cases for younger children, they had to visit quirk specialists as well, but this was a teenager.

Touya pulled his hand away from his head and flexed his fingers, the phantom feeling of his quirk boiling underneath his skin making him roll his shoulders. He wasn't a fan of this train of thought. His own quirk raged against him and had since its manifestation. It might've been manageable – it might have been an incredible quirk for a hero – had his father invested in support gear, but it hadn't been allowed.

Oh, sure, his old man used a few to strengthen his own quirk. Back in the day, Touya thought he did his job without any, only to find out when he was a teenager that his father used a temperature regulator. Something like that wouldn't have fixed Touya's issue with his quirk, but it would've fucking helped. No, he had to make his quirk his own before he was allowed to use gear. It was support, not a quick fix.

To this day, Touya still didn't use support equipment to ensure his quirk didn't hurt him. Absolutely hypocritical, but he knew how to use his quirk without hurting himself. As long as he didn't let it get past his hands, he was fine. Sometimes he went a little overboard to prove a point, but he knew his limits and stuck to them. He was a glorified counselor. It wasn't like he was going to get into fights with villains that would force him to use his quirk full blast. He'd leave that job to the heroes, thanks. What need did he have for support equipment? These students whose quirks required assistance were the ones that needed them.

Touya stared at Midoriya's file. What sort of support equipment could be used to ensure the kid didn't keep fucking breaking his bones?

"So he only broke his finger this time," he stated.

Aizawa nodded. "He planned on breaking his entire arm at first, but I stopped him."

"Planned on it…?" Touya rubbed his eyes and sighed. For fuck's sake, what was wrong with this kid? "He knew using his quirk would break his arm?"

"Yes, so he figured a way around it."

Touya tossed the file onto the table. "That's not finding a way around it. He still broke a bone."

"But he could still fight if need be. He could still stand."

"Ugh." Touya tossed his head back and groaned. "That's all he needs to hear: you can keep breaking bones as long as you can still stand and fight."

What was it with heroes and their desire to fight until they died? Surely not all of them wanted to go out in a blaze of glory. That would probably be Endeavor's preferred way of going, but Touya always figured Aizawa for a "died peacefully surrounded by his beloved eight cats" sort of person. At least, he usually did. Sometimes, when Aizawa returned from a nightly patrol all bloodied and bruised, Touya wondered if he had more of a death wish than he originally thought. Heroes had to lack some self-preservation in order to do their jobs, but these kids needed to learn how to use their quirks safely if they were going to make it to the hero stage.

There was no way in hell Midoriya would even graduate to become a pro hero if he didn't stop fucking himself up every time he used his quirk, even if he could still run or fight.

"So are you reccing him to me or what?" Touya asked.

"Well, you haven't introduced yourself to the first years yet."

"Yeah, I usually wait until after the first week, but you seem determined to kill your students early this year," Touya replied dryly. Since he mostly dealt with the hero course, he made an appearance with them second so he could spend more time with them and give a more detailed description of his role at UA. He usually didn't get recs until after the first week or two, but Aizawa was really trying him this year. "Who's teaching their first actual heroics class?"

"All Might."

Touya might as well quit now. "Just fucking great. He doesn't know shit about teaching."

Aizawa didn't even bother lying. "No, he doesn't."

Resisting the urge to rub his head again, Touya asked, "Do you know what he's teaching?"

"Not yet, but it will definitely involve quirk usage," Aizawa told him. "You could always ask to watch the class with him."

Touya wrinkled his nose. He could, but that would require being in the same room as All Might. So far, he had done a remarkable job at avoiding him. Every time the Number One Hero stepped into a room, Touya stepped out. There was always something to be done. At least twice All Might had attempted to speak with him, but Touya escaped both times, once by proclaiming he left his oven on and the other by simply pretending he'd gone deaf.

Were they good excuses? No, but short of calling him out on it, All Might said nothing. Touya didn't give a shit if it was rude of him. He didn't want to talk to the man who fueled his father's rage and jealousy so much that he'd ruined his family's lives. Call him petty, but if he had nothing nice to say to his new colleague, it was better to not say anything at all. Aizawa always said that he had a mouth on him, so really, he was being mature by _not _talking to him.

"You need to get over your issues with him," Aizawa said. "You're going to work with him closely from now on."

"No thanks."

Aizawa gave him a flat look. "Touya."

"What?" Touya shrugged. "I can work with the guy and not like him. It's totally possible. I can be professional without being nice. You do that all the time." He held out his hands. "Besides, you don't even like him."

"Because he projects an incorrect idealized image of heroism," Aizawa said, "but that's not the point. I'm still willing to work with him. Your plan to pretend he doesn't exist won't work forever." It was working marvelously at the moment, so he didn't see why not. Did it make things awkward every now and then? Probably, but Touya didn't give a single fuck. "He's working with these kids. No, I don't like him, but I can respect his work."

Touya pouted. "I don't want to do that."

"Stop acting like a brat."

"That's my entire persona with you. What would I be if I wasn't that?"

Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose. "What's your issue with All Might anyway? You know mine, but you've hated the guy for as long as I've known you."

"I don't…" Touya shifted on his feet. "I don't _hate _him."

The look on Aizawa's face was filled with such disbelief that Touya could've said he thought Ectoplasm was actually an alien in disguise. "You've never said it exactly, but every time he's brought up, you grimace like you're being forced to swallow down something disgusting."

"It's complicated," Touya settled on. Aizawa didn't blink. "I don't want to talk about it."

Shaking his head, Aizawa picked up the file with his notes. "Did you at least talk about it in therapy?"

"Sorry, that's doctor-patient confidentiality," Touya quipped.

"You know, if his presence is bothering you this much–"

"It's not."

"–then maybe you should consider going back for a session or two," Aizawa finished, totally ignoring his interjection. Of course he would. He'd seen through Touya's bullshit since day one.

Back when he was a dumbass teenager on a path that would only lead somewhere bad, Aizawa hadn't let him skate by on the excuses his shitty childhood afforded him. He hated it at first but learned to work with it too. When Aizawa offered him an out, he hesitated, but he took it. No one had ever truly extended a hand to him before. Aizawa was still young himself, but to Touya then, he really had seemed older and not just because of the bags under his eyes.

Even now, when Touya knew he had come a long way, Aizawa always seemed to know when he threatened to slip back into old habits. Neither he nor Kayama had been pleased with his decision to stop attending therapy two years ago, but he'd felt like he was using it as a crutch. It wasn't uncommon for counselors, therapists, or even other psychiatrists to attend therapy, but opening up once every two weeks had started to drag. If he had to open up to someone, he would rather it be someone he didn't have to pay.

Touya jammed his hands into his pockets and looked away. "Maybe."

"You don't have to talk about it with me," Aizawa told him, "but you should talk about it with someone. You know what you get like when you bottle things up."

Yeah, his quirk started acting up. He couldn't allow that to happen here. No matter how much Yamada hampered on him about getting support gear, he didn't want to do it. He could control his quirk just fine without it. Support gear implied a consistent and dangerous use of his quirk, which he didn't allow. He used it enough to get it out of his system so it didn't eat him alive or burn him from the inside out. He didn't need gear that would allow him to use it more.

"Okay, okay," Touya conceded. "I'll...figure something out. I just don't want to talk about it right now."

He needed time. Give him a few months. He'd probably get drunk and dump everything on either Kayama's or Yamada's laps. They were easier to talk to about the emotional stuff. For some reason, admitting anything painful to Aizawa embarrassed him sometimes. Twenty-five years-old and he was still acting like a bashful teenager. Fucking stupid ass idiot. Maybe if he'd been taught how to deal with his emotions in a healthy manner at a young age, he wouldn't be like this. Or, you know, if his father hadn't been a contradicting asshole.

"Good. You shouldn't let this affect your work."

"It won't," Touya insisted. He wouldn't let it. Cavalier as he might seem about everything, even his multiple jobs sometimes, his work was truly important to him. It was his and no one else's. He'd had help, but he made it. He'd succeeded. His dad told him he'd never make it into UA and, while this wasn't what he'd meant, he was wrong. UA was Touya's _home _now. He had made it his place. "I'll talk with All Might about overseeing his class, okay?"

"I think it's a good idea," Aizawa said, "if you want to get an up-close look at these kids."

"You're right. It is." Touya just didn't like it. If it was any other teacher, he would've been fine and he knew that. He couldn't avoid All Might forever, no matter how hard he tried, and it wouldn't be long before he couldn't avoid Shouto either.


	4. This Bitch Empty - YEET

Author's Notes: One of my favorite parts about this is blending crack humor with serious situations. Because life is absurd, and you should treat it as such. Sometimes, when life throws you lemons, you throw them right back.

* * *

Touya did not like to do certain things. Speaking to an auditorium of students sat on that list, but he could push himself through it if there were over a hundred students listening to him. A bigger audience meant he did not have to see every single face staring back at him simply because he could zone out his focus somewhere behind them. Even when he had that Shinsou kid ask all those questions this year, he didn't feel that sense of tired nervousness that overtook him every time he had to speak to the hero courses directly.

Only a select amount of students got into the hero course, which meant Touya had to go to a certain room filled with forty students that had no idea who he was and had a certain amount of pride and ideologies about being a hero ingrained in their still-maturing brains. This always caused problems for him. The nerves would eat at his stomach, preventing him from eating much; if he did, there was a chance he'd just puke it all up. With so few students, there was no avoiding them. The students would be able to see him perfectly clear and he them.

If he pulled a puking stunt like that, they'd never think him capable of doing his job. Give him speaking in court any day over ruthless teenagers.

On top of that, his _baby brother _would be in the room. Aside from the recommendation exam, which he didn't count since Shouto had acted as if the other teachers spectating didn't exist, Touya hadn't seen Shouto in approximately ten years.

Had it really been that long? Yes, but Touya highly doubted Shouto would remember him from when he was six. Children didn't retain memories that weren't immediately essential to their development, and their kind father had made sure that Touya wasn't essential to know. Shouto probably only had episodic memories of his oldest brother that were fuzzy at best since they hadn't interacted much. It wasn't either of their faults. He simply hadn't been allowed near the toddler once his quirk manifested. Even then, Shouto probably remembered very little of his siblings anyway since he'd been cut off from them to make room for his training.

Still, the nervous bubble in Touya's stomach ached. He wanted to just sprint as far away from the door he was standing by as fast as he could. He'd known this day would come when he took the position at UA, but it was still nerve-wracking to face a past he'd left behind.

Taking a deep breath, Touya readied himself as he reached for the sliding door. Shoving the uneasy feelings as far down as he could, he opened the door hard enough that both classes stopped talking amongst themselves. His blue eyes scanned the faces of each student, a carefully blank expression on his face. They passed right over Shouto, not giving him any actual attention.

The students all stared back at him wearing different expressions. Touya felt the nerves die, only to be replaced by mild distaste. These kids wanted to become heroes someday, but all he could see were kids who were going to participate in a systematic idealism that would lead some of them to their deaths.

Touya slowly trudged to the front of the room, giving Aizawa and Kan a nod of acknowledgment. His hands found their way to the pockets of his dark jeans. He hadn't bothered to put on slacks today even though he'd known he was giving a speech to the hero classes. He should present his best to these teenagers, but Touya hadn't found it in himself to care much that morning, opting to wear his black long-sleeve shirt that covered most of the more horrific burns on his arms.

The students remained quiet as he finished methodically giving every student a good once over. If he skipped over Shouto again, no one would blame him much. Once done, he dropped down in the seat behind Aizawa's desk.

"So… This the fresh meat?" Touya drawled lazily. While he never turned away from the students, he addressed the question to the teachers.

Kan snorted in amusement, but Aizawa simply frowned at him and commanded, "Get on with it."

The younger teacher sighed dramatically, sagging in the desk chair. He stayed silent for another moment, trying to take in every teenagers' expression. He could pull personality traits by how they reacted to him first. Satisfied by the students' confusion and discomfort over his lack of a response, he deemed his silence long enough to start his speech.

"I'm Mr. Korihada. This means shit to you now, but it will later for some of you. You all missed orientation, which is normal if you have Aizawa as your homeroom teacher. Kan is normally punctual, but I requested he leave his class out of this year's orientation. Not because I don't think you don't need to go through orientation, but because I don't want to do this special orientation twice. Why not cut out the middle man?

"Most of you will not see much of me, but I am here for _your _benefit, not mine. My job is to make sure students have every possible chance of succeeding in their course. Actually, that's pretty vague. I am UA's personal Quirk Counselor. This means I'm here to help any student who has trouble controlling their quirk or dealing with the drawbacks. I even offer therapy to those who have experienced trauma during their various internships. I-"

A hand lifted into the air, interrupting him from his speech.

Touya frowned, narrowing his eyes at the girl holding her hand up. "What?"

"Are you licensed?" a girl asked, her hand going down. She had dark hair tied into a ponytail and dark eyes.

"Yes, I went to school and got all sorts of license so I can legally work here," he said flatly. "Now, can I finish?" The poor girl blushed and nodded. Ah, maybe he'd been too harsh. "Anyway, I am a _licensed _Quirk Counselor and therapist. So, I'm not just here for quirk-related incidents. I'm also here for personal problems as well as helping students in other areas: home, life, etcetera. Let's move on to why I'm more important to this course than the others.

"If you hurt yourself because of your quirk once, you unfortunately get a free pass unless your teacher sees differently. If your quirk injures you again, you are immediately recced to see me. We'll go over ways to prevent it from happening again and how to safely advance with your quirk. If it happens after that initial meeting, you're put in a specialized class with yours truly as your teacher after school hours. This is not a course you can opt-out of. If your teachers feel you need more guidance on using your quirk, you have no choice. You come to me.

"Being able to control your quirk without physically hurting yourself is key to being a good hero. Do you know what happens to heroes who get injured on the field and can't continue their work?" He sent a cool, unimpressed glare over the crowd of students. "They get booted from their job. If you stay in hero work, you'll likely end up as a desk jockey. Now, injuries are par for the course for heroes. However, if it is your own quirk that does this to you, well… You might not even graduate from this school if you can't completely control it."

The absolute silence that followed was almost worth sitting in the same room as his brother. Almost.

Touya relaxed in the seat. "I'll take questions now."

Multiple hands raised. This always happened in the hero course. These students were far more interested in his speech than the other courses ever would be. He almost let out a sigh before standing so he could choose everyone without it being misinterpreted.

"Ponytail girl. What's your question?"

"Oh! I'm Yaoyorozu Momo. Do you offer to counsel on academics as well as personal and quirk issues?"

"Yeah, although I'm gonna be honest, I suck ass at math, so I'd probably be a shitty tutor."

A student in glasses nearly had a conniption. His hand went up so quickly, Touya thought he might have gotten secondhand whiplash. "Yes? Glasses."

"Are you seriously going to swear in front of students? It's highly unprofessional!"

Touya stared at him for a moment before narrowing his eyes. "You are all fifteen to sixteen and have known how to say the word fuck since you were twelve. You're here to become heroes, which you should know might cost you your life. I don't _have _to watch my language around you. That's the least of your problems."

He thought he heard a student gasp, "Oh my god, he's my hero," but Touya ignored it. His eyes landed on the shaking hand of the green-haired boy from the entrance exams, the kid who broke both his legs and arm when he punched that zero point bot. Touya pointed at him without a word.

"Are there chances of failing your class?" the boy asked nervously.

"As with every class, yeah, you can fail, but I hope no one actually does," Touya answered, already pointing at the next student.

The boy with the weird purple ball hair quirk was small, but Touya found him vaguely weird, so he was hard to miss. "Can you or your class help us meet more girls?"

Touya wasn't entirely sure how to answer that, torn between flabbergasted and irritated, so he asked instead, "Is that why you're in this course?"

"Well, duh. Heroes get all the hot women."

"Then you should probably quit now because no one is ever going to want you."

The room erupted into badly contained laughter. He fought the urge to grin as the boy sank in his seat wholly embarrassed. Good. Shit like that was stupid. He couldn't stand it when people became heroes for attention. Touya's eyes scanned the group once more, looking for more hands raised. There was only one left that had been up since the beginning, but he refused to acknowledge his little brother.

"No more questions? Alright, then. I'll see you all later or, if you're lucky, never."

"Excuse me?"

Touya pretended as if he didn't hear his brother's voice and made his way to the door. The class didn't really respond, all of them probably curious as to why he had ignored the last hand in the air. In retrospect, maybe he shouldn't have been so obvious, but he couldn't back down now.

He almost made it completely to the door before he was grabbed by the collar of his shirt and pulled backward. The action nearly made him trip, and he scowled, knowing Aizawa was the one who had stopped his escape. With a sigh, he turned back to the class. Shouto had stood, an annoyed look on his face. Oh good, he'd pissed him off. Aizawa was close by, crossing his arms, also pissed off.

"Sorry, I didn't see you," Touya said, taking his hands out of his pockets to cross his arms as well. "What was your question?"

"Did you not hear me either?" Shouto shot back, his glare quite similar to their father's.

However, the oldest son of the great Endeavor refused to let the look bother him. "Is that your question?"

The teenager's scowl only deepened, only to throw him off with an absurd question that didn't match his serious look at all. "Are you Aizawa's brother?"

Touya felt his brain shut down. He admittedly got this question a lot, but coming from his own brother was wild in itself. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Good god, teenagers were stupid. There was absolutely no way he was related to anyone who thought he and Aizawa even remotely looked alike. Aside from his black-dyed hair, tired expression, and pale skin, Touya looked more related to a dumpster fire than the man who'd taken him in as a rowdy, hurt teenager.

Unless Shouto wasn't seriously asking the question and was instead using it as an excuse to keep him in the room. He could only imagine horrible reasons as to why his brother would want that. Maybe he recognized him a little but needed more time to scrutinize him. Touya's stomach clenched with a desperate need to leave, so he blurted a good enough distraction that would shock the room and give him an out.

"No, he's my husband." Touya immediately regretted it as soon as it came out of his mouth. Aizawa looked ready to murder him, the glare in his eyes almost hot enough to light him on fire without use of Touya's quirk. The class' hysterical uproar was worth the impending death sentence though, so he decided to milk the time he had left living to make Aizawa angrier. It would at least get him out of dealing with his family if he was dead.

"No," Aizawa snarled.

"Well, only in my dreams at least, since he's secretly in a polygamous marriage with Present Mic and Midnight," Touya dismissed, a smirk on his face. He had hit rock bottom in his grave and was prepared to dig deeper. Maybe if threw all the attention on Aizawa, his little mishap would be forgotten.

Aizawa nearly popped a blood vessel. " _No _! You're done here!"

Touya scoffed. "Obviously, I'm kidding. They're all professionals here." He moved to the door and opened it, ensuring he'd be able to make a quick escape from the furious teacher behind him. He could hear Kan wheezing over the shouting and laughter from the students, all of whom would suffer Aizawa's wrath later. "He's actually fucking Ms. Joke."

And then Touya ran for his life. If it were possible, the uproar was even louder, that glasses kid absolutely losing his mind trying to calm his fellow students down. As he dashed down the halls, he could hear Kan openly dying of laughter and Aizawa shouting after him.

"TOUYA! GET YOUR ASS BACK HERE!"

Touya did not get his ass back to that classroom. Nope, he was already sprinting down the stairs and towards his office with a purpose. Aizawa could murder him later, and hopefully, Shouto would come to the conclusion that UA's Quirk Counselor was somewhat unconventional, a little strange, and definitely not his long lost older brother.

* * *

Since Touya usually didn't have much to do during the first week of school, he spent most of his time milling about and working with any second year students under his charge. Most students were able to pass his class after their first year, but there were an unfortunate few who struggled, either with their quirks or themselves. Even when a person had a handle on their quirk, there was a chance it was their mentality and way of looking at things that were holding them back. If a student was still stuck on "self-sacrifice mode", they would continue to hurt themselves regardless of how well they handled their quirks.

In other words, kids did some straight fucking dumb shit when they had a lot of power on their hands and fucked up idealizations in their still-developing brains.

Most of the second year students still working with him met him in his office or the classroom he'd chosen to use his first year. Since his class was required extracurricular work for those recced into it, he had his own room so students from multiple classes could attend it at the same time. He kept the first and second years separate since most were on different levels of how much they needed him and what they needed him for.

His office, however, was his domain. No one could make sense of it except himself, and he preferred it that way. Aizawa described it "as if a library and a pawn shop were situated next to each other and a bomb went off in the middle" - which was harsh, but okay, not an inaccurate statement. There was a method to his madness, and Touya knew where everything was in it. When asked, he could pull out a file on a specific student underneath a stack of court paperwork and the world's ugliest alien paperweight.

Actually, Touya would argue this was for the best. If he had things incredibly organized, it would make it much easier for people to leaf through his files and steal sensitive information. UA had more security than most prisons, but that didn't make Touya any less paranoid. He had a lot of in-depth notes on students that would become future heroes, not to mention transcripts of interviews of villains, victims, and more for the cases he worked on during non-school hours. If a villain were to get into his office, they'd have a field day.

That was only if they could find what they were looking for in the tornado that was his office. It was a strategic move on his part. As long as he knew where everything was, it was fine. Yamada could say his inability to keep his office clean and organized hinted at his lingering depression, Kayama could wrinkle her nose every time she stepped foot in here, and Aizawa could give one of his famous long-suffering sighs and glowers. It didn't matter. His office wasn't that bad. There was room to sit, stand, and walk around. He'd shoved his piles of books to the corner. Only one chair was used to hold extra clothes and paperwork.

This was his office. As long as the students didn't complain too much, he was in the clear. He doubted they would since most of their rooms were probably much worse. Kids were gross. He at least made sure there wasn't any trash left in his office.

Currently, Touya was waiting for his food to heat up while he went through Aizawa's notes on his quirk assessment exam and drafted up thoughts and ideas for what he should look for when he attended All Might's hero class. He hadn't exactly asked the Number One Hero if he could join in watching but was considering popping in unannounced so the students would be caught unaware.

Also, he didn't want to ask. Touya set his pen down and ran his fingers through his hair. That was stupid, wasn't it? He was acting like chicken shit. He'd never considered himself to be easily scared. There were certain things that triggered his fight or flight responses (such as dealing with his family, admitting things that emotionally wounded him, and rats), but there wasn't a single person on this goddamn planet that wasn't afraid of something. He'd suffered through worse things and survived and yet now all he wanted to do was run away. He hadn't felt like that in a long time. It was irritating as hell.

_You could just call and ask. You have his number in the directory._

That way, he could avoid a face-to-face conversation, which he'd done a good job at dodging so far. Granted, it was one of his stronger skills. He didn't consider it running away. It was more like side-stepping things entirely. Taking a new path. Ugh, great, he was even thinking in the second person now. He really was trying to avoid shit.

"How long does this thing fucking take to–?" Touya spun around to look at the old microwave situated on a small table, only to stare at it when he realized he'd never hit the button. He hadn't started the damn thing. Awesome. After blowing out his cheeks to make a face, he let the air out and then leaned over to hit the three-minute button. There, that should do the trick. He'd been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't realized the thing wasn't on.

Right when he picked up his pen again, a knock on his door startled him so badly that he nearly flung it across his desk. He stared at the door. Aizawa, Yamada, and Kayama would've walked in without knocking and any of the other teachers would've said something by now. It could be one of his second years or maybe a first year with questions, but they should be at the mess hall right now for lunch. Sometimes, they came in during lunch so there was more privacy, but usually, it was after school.

Touya stood up and walked over to the door, but before he could open it, a boy's voice spoke up on the other side. "Mr. Korihada? It's Todoroki Shouto."

Even though Shouto wasn't in the room and couldn't see him, Touya still dropped to a crouch against the door as if it could block the kid from entering his office. It was utterly ridiculous, and he knew he was being extra stupid, but he couldn't help himself. Shouto had an excellent handle on his quirk – at least as far as his ice was concerned from what Touya had seen and read – so he'd figured he would barely see the kid except in passing.

So what the fuck was he doing here? What in the hell was going on? Holy shit, did he know? Had he figured it out somehow? Shouto's records – from his homeschool tutor, of course – said he was exceptionally bright, so it was possible. Fuck, Touya had thought he hated being homeschooled, but he'd hated public school even more, which...was ironic since he ended up working in schools. Maybe he did learn something from that woman.

Then again, Shouto had also asked Touya if he was Aizawa's brother, so his deductive skills couldn't be that on point, could they?

"Korihada?"

If he acted like he wasn't in his office, Shouto would eventually leave. He'd probably think that he either wasn't on campus or had gone somewhere for lunch. It was possible. All Touya had to do was stay absolutely quiet and still, and his estranged little brother would be none the wiser. He could still get away with this. He held his breath and rested as still as possible against the door as Shouto knocked once more and then sighed.

_Yes, yes, suffer defeat. I am not the person you're looking for. Be gone._

And then the microwave dinged loudly, announcing to everyone in the world that his hot pocket was ready.

Touya swore viciously under his breath as Shouto's knocking resumed. "Okay, now I know you're in there." Nope, no he wasn't. His microwave was haunted and had turned on by itself. That was clearly the most logical answer. "I didn't ask the question I originally intended. It was kind of...personal, so I was wary to ask it in front of the other students."

Rubbing his face with his hand, Touya bit back the urge to groan. Kind of personal. He knew. He fucking knew. The persona he'd carefully constructed to hide behind was going to come crashing down. The other teachers would find out the truth. Everyone would be shocked. Yamada would point out this was a turning point for him to heal. It was over. He had avoided his siblings for years, and now it was over. They would all come back to haunt him, and every little thing he'd blocked out – for their benefit and his – would bite him in the ass.

"Seriously? Can you just open the door? I know you're in there. I heard the microwave."

"No you didn't." Touya slammed a hand over his mouth. Well, time to die now.

"I don't know what your problem with me is–"

Years of trauma, neglect, and abandonment under the same household that he would rather not get into right now, especially when he was doing so well and he had friends that cared about him and a job that fulfilled him and he was happy.

"–but this is stupid."

Super stupid. Absolutely, incredibly, and terribly stupid. Aizawa was going to rip him a new one for his behavior. Aside from who his father was, Shouto was a student that might actually need his help, and Touya was acting like a jackass. However, by the time he finally stood up and decided to answer the door, Shouto made the decision for him by freezing the handle and lock and breaking it. Touya gawked. What a little shit!

As soon as the door swung open to reveal Shouto, Touya pointed at the door. "What the hell, kid? That's school property!"

Shouto didn't even bother to look ashamed. "You didn't answer and then your microwave went off. I was concerned something might have happened to you."

Touya narrowed his eyes. Oh, how clever. "You better pay for that. I'm broke as shit."

Without even hesitating, Shouto pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and then fished out a black credit card with his fingertips with an excellent flourish. "Put it on my dad's tab."

"What the…?" Touya eyed the card. "This isn't a bar."

Shouto shrugged and continued to hold the card out. Well, if he was offering it… Taking the card wouldn't hurt. He could get the door fixed. Shouto wouldn't get in trouble for damaging school property. Plus, it was Endeavor's money. He had a fuck ton of it. Would he really notice if he was missing a few yen or a thousand or whatever?

Glowering shrewdly at Shouto, Touya took the card and shoved it into his pocket. Shouto didn't blink. It was the shadiest transaction he'd been involved in since he lived on the streets before Aizawa found him – and it was with Endeavor's golden boy. They really were related, huh.

Still, that didn't mean he wanted to have a conversation with him. His plan was to avoid Shouto for the next three years until he graduated and then laugh about it with Yamada and Kayama. Oh, remember that time he was able to dodge his estranged brother for years and therefore avoid confronting his dad? So cool, ha!

Turning his back on him, Touya slipped around to his microwave and popped it open to take his hot pocket out. Okay, it was a cheap piece of shit, but he was rather fond of the stuff even if his stomach hated him for it later. Whatever. It would've been too hot for him to hold if his hands weren't fire-resistant, but then Shouto eyed him strangely as he held it with no issues. Shit, yeah, any other person besides them would've struggled to hold it so soon after cooking.

"Oh, this is _hot_," Touya said in what had to be the most unbelievable and exaggerated tone. Shouto stared at him blankly, and Touya didn't set it down. He didn't have a plate and didn't want to set it on any of his paperwork. "What do you want, kid? I'm busy."

Shouto arched an eyebrow. "Are you? I thought you weren't busy the first week. No students have been recced to your course yet."

"Hey, you don't know my schedule. I work outside of UA since I'm not full-time, thanks."

"You said we could come here any time if we needed to talk."

Touya blew on the hot pocket. "What's so important that you had to break my lock and bust down my door?"

"I didn't bust down your door."

"Excuse me?" Touya gestured to the frozen pieces of metal on the floor. "Have you seen my lock? You practically attacked me."

Shouto's eyes hardened. "You're ignoring and avoiding me. Why?"

Touya snapped his mouth shut and glared coldly at Shouto. It would've been a hell of a lot more effective had they not been nearly the same height. The last time he'd seen his little brother, Shouto had been a kid, so small with a bandage over his left eye from where their mother had thrown boiling water on him. Touya remembered wondering if Shouto would make it when he ran away from home, but he'd made it and more. Ten years later, Shouto was only a few centimeters shorter than him. It was awful.

"Is it my father?" Shouto asked flatly. "Some people avoid me because of that."

Yes, yes, it was exactly that, but Touya couldn't say anything. So much shit that he'd hid even from his old therapist threatened to bubble to the surface. He didn't want to deal with this. He had been happy not thinking about it all. He'd been doing good before Shouto and All Might showed up and ruined the chaotic but content life he'd built for himself. No, avoiding it wasn't the answer, but he always figured that he'd deal with it in his own time, not have it shoved on him all at once when he didn't have time to figure out an escape plan.

He couldn't just run like he had the first time.

Or could he?

"Oh, hey, would you look at that!" Touya said, pointing at absolutely nothing behind Shouto's shoulder.

Just as he wanted, Shouto turned to look at whatever he was pointing out. "What–?"

Touya threw his hot pocket at Shouto and shouted, "Street smarts!" before full-on booking it out of his office and down the hallway, his chaotic mess of a brain kicking in to make him faster than normal.

Yeah, maybe Shouto was more athletic than him and could use his quirk to easily catch up, but the kid was so caught off guard that he didn't even move, just got a hot pocket to the chest and scoffed, "Are you kidding me?" He didn't even try to chase after him as far as Touya could tell. It was hard to pay attention when he was running faster than he ever had in his life.

By the time he rounded the corner, Touya realized Shouto wasn't following him, but his mind was racing too much to tell him to stop. He didn't know where he was even running until he spotted the door to the teacher's lounge and ducked inside, slamming the door shut and leaning against it so he could catch his breath. There, he was safe. Shouto couldn't get him here because students weren't allowed. This was their sanctuary away from the dumbass bullshit the students put them through.

"Um, you okay there?"

Touya startled upon realizing he wasn't alone in the room. Yamada sat at one of the tables, a pair of chopsticks in his hand hovering over his lunch, while Aizawa was pouring a cup of tea and Thirteen was going through a stack of papers. It would've been one thing had it just been Aizawa and Yamada, but Thirteen wasn't exactly aware of Touya's full history. He must've looked more like a lunatic than normal to the other teacher.

"Yeah, totally fine." Touya forced himself to stand up straight. "I thought I, uh, saw a ghost – but it was just Ectoplasm. He should really think about part-timing at a haunted house or something."

Well, on a scale of one to ten for excuses, that was a solid two at best.

Even though it was a stupid response, Thirteen snorted softly. "You never cease to amuse me, Korihada." Touya smiled weakly, but judging from the way Yamada eyed him, he wasn't fooling anyone. Thirteen was polite enough not to comment on it though as they stood up and gathered their papers. "I'm due back at my agency, so I must be off."

Touya had a feeling Thirteen was just saying that for his benefit. Normally, that would've rankled him, but he wasn't in the mood to be annoyed with anyone but himself right now. He stepped to the side so they could walk out of the room. As soon as the door shut, Touya shuffled over to the couch, threw himself down on it facefirst, and let out a muffled groan.

"Wow, you usually wait until week three before you do that," Yamada commented.

Without lifting his face from the couch cushion, Touya said, "I'm a dumbass."

"What?"

"He said he's a dumbass," Aizawa answered for him as he stirred his tea. Of course he could understand him. He was fluent in Touya's specific brand of idiot behavior.

Touya rolled onto his back and threw an arm over his eyes to half-cover his face. He didn't want to look at either of them right now. Who knew what Shouto had done after he'd panicked like that? He'd handled Shouto talking to him well during class (okay, he sort of handled it), but this was beyond dumb. He'd thrown a fucking hot pocket at his brother and ran like Shouto was trying to mug him. He had literally run away from his problems. Twenty-five years old, and he had acted like a child in the face of his past.

Yamada turned around in his seat, lunch forgotten. "What did you do?"

"I was going through Aizawa's files for the quirk assessment test and warming up something to eat when Shouto showed up."

"Oh no."

"It gets worse. He was there to ask me a question. I thought it might have something to do with the fact that I'm his fucking estranged brother, and I panicked."

Aizawa sighed, already exhausted by noon, and set his cup down on the table. "You did the hot pocket thing again, didn't you?"

"Yes!" Touya threw his arm to the side and jolted upright on the couch. "It was awful! I haven't reacted like that in at least two years! I just blanked out, threw my food at him, and ran."

It wasn't funny. Okay, it was kind of funny to an outsider, which was why Touya only glowered faintly at Yamada when he snorted and almost laughed. He had been a firsthand witness to Touya doing the same damn thing to Aizawa on multiple occasions. It wasn't always a hot pocket, but it was his usual choice of weapon. When it came to confronting any of his emotional issues or past neglect, his preferred means was escape.

One time in the beginning, when Aizawa was bold enough to ask Touya about the scars he tried to keep hidden with long sleeves, he tried escaping out the window but tripped on the fire escape. Aizawa had been forced to catch him by the ankle with his capture scarf. Dangling upside down was pretty humiliating, but it somehow wasn't as bad as edgily admitting that he'd gotten most of them during his training with his dad. He was vague, but that had been enough for the both of them to not bring it up again, lest Touya try to bolt a second time.

Running away was easier at first than confronting things, but they would always catch up to him in the end – or so his old therapist had said. Touya was beginning to realize he might've been right, but he'd been running for so long that it was hard to think of another way.

"I bet he actually had a serious question relating to his quirk, and I just fucking...ran out on him like a total jackass." He sat upright and ran a hand through his hair. "That's twice in his life that I've done that – twice!"

"This is a lot for you to take in," Yamada pointed out gently. "You built a life that revolved around your family not being in it, but you can't avoid it anymore. We didn't expect you to handle this perfectly."

"Still, that was unprofessional as fuck." Touya dropped his hands and leaned back against the couch, staring up at the ceiling. "I'm not just a shitty brother, but also a bad counselor. It shouldn't have mattered if his question was about my identity. Running away from him like that… I'm lucky he didn't freeze me on the spot, but he must've decided against it since he already broke the lock on my door."

Yamada sputtered. "_What_? Is everyone in your family so intense and dramatic?"

"Yes, it's a genetic curse." Touya paused and frowned thoughtfully. "Fuyumi wasn't so bad. I don't know. She might have grown into it later in life."

Silence fell between the three men as they each considered what to say next. Aizawa dropped into a seat at the table beside Yamada and took a sip of his tea. Yamada dug around his food with his chopsticks before setting them down across his bowl. Touya tried desperately to think of anything other than the way Shouto had sounded when he said his question was personal and the confounded look on his face when Touya ran. He wasn't doing a good job.

"Did you ever do the hot pocket thing with Endeavor?" Yamada finally asked.

"Yeah, except it was a bowl of ramen." Touya blinked as the memory resurfaced clear as day. His father had shown up demanding to know why he'd received a call from Touya's school about him skipping class. Touya had reacted by throwing his ramen at his dad and bolting out of the room. Small as he was, he hadn't been able to escape his father, who grabbed him by the arm with his quirk activated too much in his rage. "He didn't take it as well as Aizawa."

That was all he needed to say. Yamada knew not to push too much if only because Touya would close up and Aizawa didn't push at all. That was probably why he knew more than Yamada and Kayama. Yes, it was easier to talk with them when he was struggling with something, but they were also more emotional, and he didn't need them feeling upset or angry over shit that had long since happened. If Aizawa was, he didn't show it or say anything.

Touya groaned again. "I'm gonna have to apologize, aren't I?"

"Yes," Aizawa said, ruthless as ever.

"This is gonna blow."

"Of course."

"Shouldn't you be better at comforting people?" Touya narrowed his eyes. "You're a teacher."

Aizawa took a sip of his herbal tea. "I'm not here to baby students that want to become pro heroes – or you for acting like a child when you know better."

Touya pointed at Aizawa and looked to Yamada. "Do you see this? How cruel he is to me? I can't believe you all let him treat me this way."

Yamada picked up his chopsticks and pointed right back at him. "Ignoring this is payback for what you did to my hair last year."

Oh yeah, when he'd mixed Yamada's hair gel with some fancy dye and switched out his hairspray for something a little more interesting. Seeing him walk into the school with what looked like a massive neon green afro had been absolutely incredible, although he thought Kan was going to choke from how hard he was wheezing with laughter. Okay, so Yamada had a very valid excuse for not sticking up for him in Aizawa's case. Still worth it.

Sighing to himself, Touya stood up and slunk over to the fridge to find something to eat seeing as how he'd used his lunch as a projectile. This was going to be a long day, especially since he had to figure out when he was going to apologize to Shouto.


	5. That's My OPINION!

Notes: I really love writing about Touya and All Might in this. It's so complicated.

* * *

Regret came in the form of a lot of things for Touya. He found multiple reasons to feel like he'd done something incorrectly. It didn't help that he had to actually do his best to talk to Shouto. Realistically, he could have Aizawa send him down to his office to actually have a conversation rather than try to corner him while he sat in on All Might's class, but Touya never liked to make things easier for himself.

On top of that, Touya hadn't talked to All Might yet either, but he'd call as soon as he got to his office since he was on his way there anyway. He had very little to do outside of his other work until really classes got into the swing of things, but he had to show up to school at some point in case a student wanted to speak with him. The students were in class for a little longer, so the halls were mostly empty, which was one relief at least.

Once he made it to his office, Touya pushed the door open with the flat of his palm, the doorknob still broken. He'd have to get that replaced soon. Shouto's credit card was practically burning a hole in his wallet at this point after having it for a few days. Granted, so far, Touya had only used it once to buy himself a new coffee machine as his had taken a shit a good week before the school year started. Other than that, he was afraid to use it. He knew, realistically, his father wouldn't bother looking at the charges on it, but that didn't mean shit. He still felt like he was going to get his ass beat for just having it.

There was nothing quite like feeling like he was a scared, dumb kid again.

He sat down in his chair and slumped in it. The number of papers from his other jobs on his desk was stressful, considering he had to take care of them before his counselor job took over, but he was used to it at this point. It was a wonder how the school custodian just _knew _not to touch his files. All he did was make sure the trash was taken out and that the floor was cleaned.

Sitting up, Touya moved some of the files haphazardly around so they were no longer blocking his computer and set to work on his latest case. Some kid had accidentally used his quirk on a classmate and the parents of that classmate were so adamant about the kid seeing a quirk counselor that they were taking it to court. Touya typed his analysis for the judge, ignoring the phone to his right. He desperately did not want to call All Might. Ignoring it would mean he wouldn't be able to sit in on the exercise, but it also meant he wouldn't have to place himself in an unnecessarily uncomfortable position.

As he typed, he zoned out, completely focused on his work. His brain ran through the recommendations that the court could give the kid ranging from the counselors themselves to the facilities he could attend to learn better control. He paused only to pull the file out from the stack to go over it before returning to his typing. The distraction was so effective that Touya didn't hear the gentle knock on his door. He only caught sight of movement as his door opened and tensed in anxiety once All Might's skeleton figure was revealed.

"Mr. Korihada?" All Might called, his tone soft and his shoulders hunched. "Sorry for the intrusion. I wasn't sure if you heard me knock."

Touya tried not to make a face. It was weird hearing All Might speak so normally when all he had ever seen of him was that exaggerated speech of that constantly radiated '_ I AM HERE _'.

"No, I didn't since I was really focused on my work…" Touya muttered, pulling himself away from his computer.

An uncomfortable look crossed All Might's face as he sat down across from him, folding his hands in his lap, like he was making himself at home in Touya's cramped office. "I was hoping to talk with you about something."

Touya almost wished he had another hot pocket before deciding, no, he should not yeet a hot pocket at the Number One Hero. It would be a waste of perfectly good food. "Alright."

"I was wondering if you would be willing to sit in on my first hero course exercise," All Might said, leaning forward. Oh, okay. Straight to the point then. "Yamada and Kayama have told me about all the good work you've been able to achieve here, so I thought it might be a good idea to get the first years more accustomed to your presence in the school. Plus, it's my first time teaching, so I would feel better if someone who can spot warning signs was also there." He smiled apologetically. "I know you don't particularly like me, but I think it would really benefit the whole class if you were there to help me teach them how to be heroes."

Touya blinked at him before shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "I don't… _not _like you…"

The look All Might gave him one hundred percent said that Touya was not doing a good job at convincing either of them. The younger man frowned, rubbing a hand through his messy hair before sighing. Maybe Aizawa was right. It might be a good idea to attend a few therapy sessions to revisit his feelings on the Number One Hero since they were colleagues now, lest he let it affect his job here.

"You don't have to like me, Mr. Korihada," All Might stated, sounding completely unbothered. "I just figured it would give you the opportunity to examine class 1-A's abilities more closely."

Touya averted his gaze and mumbled, "I was actually about to call you to ask if I could sit in on the class."

Surprise crossed All Might's face. "Really?"

"Really. I just wanted to finish my suggestions for this case first."

"Oh, I see," All Might said. "Sorry for interrupting your work."

Shame coursed through Touya faster than his quirk would burn down a field. He knew All Might was not at fault for anything that his father had put him through yet he was being a complete dick to a genuinely decent person. It would've been much easier had the hero had the same obnoxiously confident and bright persona he showed in interviews or was a pompous asshole in private like many pros. Unfortunately, he was neither of those things, and it sucked.

With a sigh, Touya dragged his hand through his hair again. "You didn't interrupt. I was just finishing up." He could tell that despite the shame digging itself deep into his stomach that he still sounded like he'd rather be anywhere else, but there was nothing he could do about that right now. He'd have to work on it later, especially when he finally spoke properly with Shouto. "Thanks for coming to ask though. It saved me a phone call."

"Of course, Mr. Korihada, I look forward to working with you tomorrow," All Might said, standing from his seat.

"Touya."

All Might paused. "What?"

"You can call me Touya. I don't really...go by my surname."

_This is a horrible idea. A truly awful, horrible idea. _

All Might simply smiled kindly at him (or should it be Toshinori?) and left the small office, the door softly bouncing instead of clicking shut without a doorknob. Touya stared at it for a solid minute before he dropped his forehead on the desk. Things would be so much easier if he just didn't hate All Might, but here he was, regressing back into the anger and hatred of everyone who hadn't even been involved in his torment. How was he going to survive being around his little brother _and _the Symbol of Peace? He wasn't. That was just fact. He wasn't going to make it through the whole class, probably not even through the rest of the day itself.

Taking a deep breath, Touya fought the urge to simply scream and let his quirk burn the shit out of his skin. He could feel it flickering underneath his fingertips, wanting to be let out in his frustration. Instead, he sat up and decided burying himself in his work would be the best thing for him to do at the moment. He couldn't fight the feeling of dread weighing on his shoulders as he returned to the recommendation letter he had been working on, but he ignored it as he did everything else that bothered him.

Time passed quickly, his head stuck on the mental image of him standing in one room with All Might and Shouto as he pushed through his work. Even though the clock on his computer stared back at him to let him know that it was well into the nighttime, he refused to move from his place until he was done.

He wasn't aware of when he fell asleep, but he woke up with his face pressed against his keyboard and his hand on the dwindled stack of papers. Someone was shaking him and making his face rub uncomfortably against his keyboard.

"Wha-?" Touya lifted his head and noted his cheek was indented with the keys when he rubbed the side of it. Wow, that must've been an attractive look. He blinked his eyes in the dark a few more times, the soft glow of his screensaver the only light left in the room. He caught sight of a picture taken a few years ago when he graduated university - him standing in the middle, shoulders hunched, cheeks red, and his eyes averted in embarrassment with Mic cheering loudly from behind, Kayama wrapped around his left arm and smiling, and Aizawa standing at his right with one hand pinching the bridge of his nose and his other on Touya's shoulder.

And then he looked up and saw the actual Aizawa gazing down at him in the dark.

Cheeks flooding red, Touya slammed the laptop shut. "Shit, what time is it? Is school starting?"

"No, but it's almost three," Aizawa replied evenly. "What are you still doing here?"

Touya sagged in his chair. At least he'd be able to get a few hours of sleep before he was due back here. Maybe he could skip the morning. "I got caught up in writing suggestions in a few court cases and sessions." He frowned. "I hope I finished them, although I'm sure I'll need to clean up that last one."

They weren't all due today, but he liked to be ahead on his work, including what he did at UA. He was an utter disaster in most areas of his life and was definitely prone to taking shortcuts in order to do less work, but when his actions directly affected that of a child's, he took his job seriously. It was why his reaction to Shouto irritated him so much the more he looked back on it. He couldn't have been less professional, and it could even get him in trouble with Nezu. So far, no one had said anything, but that was only because he knew Shouto hadn't spoken a word about it to anyone.

Judging from the few times Touya had seen his brother around UA, it was most likely because he didn't have anyone to tell. He didn't seem to be friends with anyone. Ah, well, some kids were less social than others. For fuck's sake, Touya had been little better and perhaps even worse. He'd basically been a gremlin when Aizawa found him on the streets. He might still be one, but that was semantics.

After standing up, Touya pat his pants to make sure he had his phone and then, well, he couldn't exactly lock up his office. He grabbed his laptop and files and stuffed them into a backpack. It was highly unlikely that anyone would steal something from him - theft was practically nonexistent at UA for good reason - but it still made him uncomfortable to leave so many of his files unprotected. Then again, if a fifteen-year-old could simply break his doorknob in a few seconds, it wasn't like they were safer with a lock.

"Ugh," Touya grumbled as they walked down the hallway. "The busses are definitely out of the equation. I guess I can call a cab."

"Or I can give you a ride," Aizawa pointed out since he was a proper adult with a functioning car while Touya still hadn't learned how to drive. He spent almost all university riding his bike to and from school after skateboarding proved to be disastrous to his face.

Shaking his head, Touya said, "It's like thirty minutes out of your way, if not more." It would have been nicer had he lived closer to work, but he went where the rent was cheap. Did it put him in a shadier part of town? Maybe, but so far no one had bothered him. He kept to himself and his neighbors did the same. "I should've worked from home. I don't know what I was thinking."

"You were concentrating on your job," Aizawa said.

Touya decided not to respond to that, if only because his three am mind was betraying him by supplying him with some decidedly proud feelings. He did not live for compliments anymore. He didn't give a shit about praise or approval. He was a grown-ass man, so he did what any adult would do when confronted with something uncomfortable: he changed the subject.

"What are you doing here anyway?" Touya asked.

"I just got off patrol. I forgot some paperwork in my office and returned here to get it when I heard your computer in your office." Aizawa was in his hero costume, but he didn't look rough for wear, so it must've been a slow, quiet night. There had been more than a few times when he had come back looking like utter shit, and Touya was left to silently freak out while he cleaned a busted lip or broken nose. Underground hero work was not for the faint of heart. "Why don't you just crash at my place?"

A tired grin quirked at Touya's lips. "Aw, like old times. Miss me that much?"

Aizawa gave him a dead-eyed look that would've made someone who didn't know him flinch. That was just him, like how Touya reacting to panic by yeeting a hot pocket and bolting for the nearest exit was him. "No, but you're right about taking you home adding almost an hour to my trip. I'd like to get some sleep before tomorrow's first actual hero class."

"Ah, yeah." Touya rubbed the back of his neck, his conversation with All Might yesterday afternoon creeping back to the forefront of his mind. "All Might actually stopped by this evening after classes were over. He asked if I could oversee his first class, so it looks like all I had to do was wait and let him do the work for me."

"You know that you can't always avoid things, right?" Aizawa asked flatly.

"Why not?" Touya shrugged. "Good things come to those who wait."

Aizawa shook his head but didn't argue with him further as they headed for the parking lot off-campus. While Touya had not exactly agreed to Aizawa's suggestion that he stay at his place for the night, he hadn't said no either, which usually meant yes in both their books, at least with each other. The car ride was quiet, somber jazz music playing on the radio, and Touya found it difficult not to fall asleep again with his temple pressed against the cool window. That was the nice thing about Aizawa. He never felt the need to fill in the gaps with pointless talk. He was more than content to not talk and allow Touya to ruminate in silence.

As soon as Aizawa parked, Touya slid out of the car and tilted his head back to look at the nondescript building. Underground hero work didn't pay much either, but at least now he lived in a better place with his UA pay on top of that than he had before he accepted a teaching position. Teachers didn't make big bucks either, but UA did pay well. Touya was just bad at handling his money, as Kayama often scolded him.

The walk up the stairs to Aizawa's apartment was familiar. Touya had been here often enough and had even stayed here for a time. The inside was even more familiar. Aizawa really never changed. He was consistent in almost everything. It was admittedly comforting to somehow who had grown up in a home where he didn't know if his day would end in pain or neglect for years. The only difference was the guest bedroom, but that had been Touya's doing. He'd taken down all his posters and god-awful art and personal touches once he got his own place.

Without a word spoken between them since leaving UA, Touya dragged himself into the guest room and crashed on the bed. It looked like it hadn't been used in who knew how long. The last time he'd crashed here or maybe Yamada? The two of them sometimes went out if Aizawa was in a malleable enough mood, but he very rarely got drunk. It didn't matter. Touya pressed his face into the pillow, contemplating the thought of how long it would take to smother himself, and then rolled onto his back. He didn't even change out of his clothes, just kicked off his shoes and stared at the ceiling in the dark.

Tomorrow was really going to suck, wasn't it?

* * *

The next day did, in fact, suck - _a lot _\- and it was a fucking disaster.

Not only had Touya neglected to remember that Aizawa had to wake up early for homeroom, but he didn't have a change of clothes. Honestly, he probably could've stayed there and slept longer, but once he realized Aizawa was getting ready for work, he felt obligated to get up and leave. He didn't live here anymore.

Since the buses were running now, he took one to his place while Aizawa went to work so he could shower. At least he'd been able to eat at Aizawa's, who was also a proper enough adult to eat breakfast almost every morning. The one bright spot of Touya's day was the coffee machine, which he liberally used since he knew trying to go back to sleep was useless.

_Thanks, Dad, for at least fueling my coffee addiction. _

Touya snorted as he dropped down on his couch and powered up his laptop. He needed to clean up whatever mess he'd attempt to write while half-asleep. Upon opening up the document that had been left open when he passed out, he leaned forward and squinted at the screen. What the fuck had he even been writing? Had he continued typing in his sleep? He blew out a breath and ran his fingers through his wet hair. He didn't have much more to do, but sorting through his brain's dumbass attempts to work while unconscious would take a minute as he leafed through the files next to him.

Once that was taken care of, there was no avoiding it. He needed to get to UA so he could watch over All Might's class and also take advantage of Lunch Rush's pity.

By the time he made it to UA around an hour later, lunch was over, but he managed to snag a meal from the mess hall. He ate a bowl of rice and pork on his way to his office, shoveling the food down his face. There wasn't much time to eat, not with the hero class about to start, so he simply dropped his things off and grabbed a notebook and pen in order to take notes. It would've been faster to take notes with his laptop, but he preferred it this way.

Touya slipped into the control room just as All Might was explaining the hero combat scenario in Ground Beta to the class. Two versus two - mock heroes and villains - and a fake bomb. It was an easy scenario and one that allowed teachers to quickly understand their students' quirks in terms of combat. Plus, it was always fun to watch a bunch of hormonal teenagers go buck wild with their quirks. Some of them proved inherently talented while others needed more guidance.

As the teams and matches were announced, Touya listed the members of each match at the top of a separate page. Judging from that explosion kid's reaction - Bakugou Katsuki, he recalled from Aizawa's files - it was definitely going to be a wild one. Mr. Anger Management versus Midoriya Break My Bones Izuku - how fun.

When All Might and the other students filed into the room, Touya was hanging in the back of the room, his back and the flat of his right foot resting against the wall. The students eyed him curiously, most of them having not seen him since he bolted out of the room after telling them that Aizawa was in a polyamorous relationship with Yamada and Kayama. Hm, yeah, he kept forgetting he did that.

"What's he doing here?" Shouto demanded flatly, eyeing him. Touya didn't open his mouth to respond, running his tongue over his teeth, and stared him down flatly. Not the best start to the class, and he probably shouldn't be mean mugging his brother, but he had to prove to everyone that he could sometimes be a professional.

All Might hesitated when he caught one of his students outright glaring at a teacher. "Ah, I asked him to oversee today's hero course. I thought his knowledge of quirks would be valuable."

Shouto decided not to respond. Either he accepted All Might's decision or he didn't care enough to argue with him. Instead, he turned his back on Touya and looked up at the screens as Midoriya and his teammate Puke Girl got ready to enter the building. Touya side-eyed him for a second longer before turning his attention to All Might, who had walked over to him and held out a hand.

"An earpiece," All Might explained, "so you can hear what they're saying."

Touya's first urge was to make a dry comment about the fighting and yelling blowing out his eardrums, but he swallowed the words and instead muttered, "Thanks." He had to show Shouto that he could be professional and not take his issues out on All Might. Shouto was a student and All Might was his colleague. He could not, in good conscience, mock them all the time.

But that would've for sure kept them at an arm's length too.

As soon as the match started, Touya raised his eyebrows. Okay, this was interesting. There was some serious history between Bakugou and Midoriya - and it did not sound pretty. Wow, this was some serious k-drama shit here. Midoriya seemed like a decent kid, if not a bit stupid about breaking his bones, whereas Bakugou was a barely contained ball of fireworks and a serious attitude problem that needed to get checked. He wasn't even paying attention to the exercise; he just wanted to beat Midoriya into a pulp.

_What a little piece of shit, _Touya thought as he made a note about Bakugou's aggression. For the most part, his policy about bullying wasn't crossed often. The hero course naturally bread competitiveness and rivalries, but it also created camaraderie and a deep sense of loyalty. Being put in serious situations often brought people together, so most students were very supportive of one another even when they wanted to beat each other too.

Hadn't Aizawa also mentioned that he'd been forced to restrain Bakugou to stop him from attacking Midoriya during the physical quirk assessment test? All that power, all that potential, and he was really going to squander it by being a total jackass. If he thought he could get away with this kind of piss poor behavior because he was strong, he had another thing coming. As far as Touya was concerned, strength meant exactly shit. Maybe strength had made his father the Number Two Hero, but it also turned him into an utter bastard.

The thing about these hero combat scenarios was that injuries were expected. Even Touya didn't blink an eye when Bakugou surprise attacked them and caught Midoriya when he pushed Uraraka out of the way. Nice dodge at least. Not that Touya liked it when the kids injured themselves or each other, but it was completely unavoidable. They couldn't train these kids to become heroes with kid gloves, not when villains would refuse to do the same. Touya rubbed at his arms, suddenly conscious of the old scars. He'd certainly built up a tolerance for pain.

As soon as Bakugou and Midoriya started talking, however, Touya's eyes narrowed. This was a lot more serious than he thought. This was ugly. He saw Midoriya clench his fists and stand up for himself for what must have been the first time - and Touya's stomach flipped uncomfortably. It was important to him that he did not project or transfer his own emotions and thoughts onto other kids, but it was harder than ever in this case, which was unexpected. He'd thought he would have issues about it with Shouto, not some random kid he didn't know.

Not some kid that repeatedly hurt himself in order to be better and stronger and currently had to find a way around that while facing someone who seemed intent on beating the shit out of him.

Ah, fuck.

"Don't you think this is a little extreme?" Touya piped up. A few of the kids glanced back at him nervously. "Bakugou isn't even paying attention to the combat scenario. He's fighting to _hurt _."

"I believe this is necessary for the both of them," All Might replied.

Touya raised an eyebrow. "You think it's necessary for Bakugou to act like that? Are you trying to encourage such aggressive behavior in future heroes?"

"I…" All Might frowned. "I believe it's necessary for young Midoriya to find strength in himself and for young Bakugou to learn not to underestimate his opponents."

"Did you know of their history?" Touya asked.

"Some of it," All Might admitted, finally sounding a smidgen sheepish.

It wasn't good enough.

Touya tapped his pen on his notepad, his eyes flickering to the match where Midoriya took an opening to run away instead of fighting back. He hadn't used his quirk so far. If he used the kind of power he had shown in the entrance exam, it would kill Bakugou. And then he broke his finger again throwing that ball. He couldn't seem to control his strength. He needed to learn how to control it against people before he could do shit. Judging by his refusal to use his quirk so far while Bakugou exploded repeatedly, he knew that too. Smart kid, complete dumbass.

With a more calculating gaze, Touya watched as Bakugou wasted time hunting for Midoriya, blowing down doors and screaming obscenities. He rolled his eyes. What a waste of a perfectly good quirk on an arrogant kid. Well, if UA was good at one thing - and especially Aizawa - it was straightening kids with attitudes out. And if they didn't, they didn't graduate. It was as simple as that. If they caught onto this negative behavior in the beginning and didn't let it continue without any repercussions, then they could work with him.

It was either that or Touya and this kid were going to make the next three years for each other hell because he was not about to tolerate that shit.

At least Iida Tenya and Uraraka were taking the exercise seriously, even if they were stuck at a standstill. If Uraraka didn't get any support from Midoriya, the clock would simply run out, but Midoriya didn't appear to be trying to reach her - and for good reason, since he wouldn't want to bridge Bakugou's violent grudge against him into the mix.

The closer Bakugou got to finding Midoriya, the more uneasy Touya became. "I don't like this, All Might. This isn't a class exercise; it's a grudge match."

"They need to work through it," All Might replied through gritted teeth, trying to remain neutral in front of his students. "They won't be able to progress if they don't cross this bridge."

Touya, on the other hand, had no such qualms. "There won't be a bridge if Bakugou burns it down. If he looks like he's going to cross a line, I _will _stop this."

The heroics teacher didn't answer, but All Might was tense now. Touya twisted his lips in irritation. Maybe he was right. While Midoriya was definitely worked up, it looked like it was more from determination and adrenaline than fear. Maybe Bakugou had bullied him before, but the tables had been flipped now. He was spiraling whereas Midoriya was trying to work his way around it. Maybe Touya should give them more credit. They would eventually cross paths in the next three years. It just might be better for them to get this out of the way and then Touya could drag them both by their ears and rip them a new one.

And then Bakugou gleefully explained that his gauntlets were storing his nitroglycerin-laced sweat that could allow him to let off one massive explosion. Even All Might balked at that.

"I won't kill him if he dodges!" Bakugou declared right before pulling the pin.

Touya rushed forward and snatched the mic out of All Might's hand. "Don't you fucking dare-"

He fucking dared, that little shit.

Yellows, oranges, and red flames took over the cameras. Touya and All Might winced as the explosion burst into their earpieces, the former nearly dropping the mic when he staggered away from the screens in a knee-jerk reaction he hadn't anticipated. The explosion filled the entire hallway and blew through another room entirely, blowing out half the wall and windows.

Everyone was left to gawk as the smoke cleared, thankfully revealing Midoriya still alive and breathing as he dragged himself to his feet. So Bakugou hadn't aimed directly at him. If he had, there would be a lot left to Midoriya's suit. He'd been partially hit, but he could still fight, although Bakugou wasn't giving him much of a chance. Some of the kids grimaced as Bakugou used his quirk to strengthen his hits and evaded any attempts to grab him. They'd both pushed each other into a corner, and there was only one way this could end.

"Midoriya is going to hurt himself again," Touya stated flatly.

All Might's eyes flickered to him, but he didn't move. "How do you know?"

"Because he has something to prove," Touya said, watching the gears turn in Midoriya's head even as his body began to fail him. "Because winning is the only option for him - and you thought it was a good idea to put an arrogant little shit with an inferiority complex against a weak-looking kid he clearly has issues with. This could only end badly."

"Do you want me to call it off?"

Touya shoved the mic into All Might's hands against his chest and turned away in disgust. "I want you to be their fucking teacher, not their friend."

He didn't want to watch what he knew would happen. He wasn't sure how Midoriya was going to use his quirk, but he would. The students gasped and even All Might panicked, but when Touya turned around, Midoriya used his quirk, not against his opponent but the building. In a surprising turn of events, Uraraka was able to attack Iida with the debris using her quirk and secure the win for them. Touya would feel proud of them being able to resolve their side of the scenario if he wasn't so focused on Midoriya, who had one burnt arm and one broken one.

But it was the look in his eyes that made Touya freeze. The fierce determination, the anger, the fear, the grief. The last one was easy to miss, but he'd seen it in his own reflection before. Even if it meant winning, Midoriya hadn't wanted to use his quirk against Bakugou, but he'd known it was the only way. How many times had Touya felt that too? It was the only way.

When he had left home, wasn't that exactly how he had looked at himself in the mirror before walking out the door in the middle of the night? Touya's gaze slid over to Shouto, whose eyes were still on the screens even as All Might left them alone.

_It was the only way to survive - to win - to beat him. _

"Is Midoriya gonna be okay?" the pink-skinned girl asked.

"What about Bakugou?" a spikey red-haired boy asked. "Is he gonna get in trouble?"

Touya rubbed the bottom half of his face, belatedly realizing that the questions were being directed at him now that All Might had left to take care of Bakugou and Midoriya. He felt only a little bad about keeping the earpiece on and eavesdropping on All Might's conversation with the loser of the match, but he was curious and frustrated. He wanted a good excuse to rip into the hero later, and this seemed ripe for the chance.

Turning to the kids, Touya said, "Recovery Girl will take care of Midoriya. He'll be out for the rest of the day, but you don't need to worry about him." Midoriya - and All Might - couldn't keep relying on her if he kept this up. He needed to figure out a way to use his quirk and knew it too. Aizawa wouldn't be happy with a student that repeatedly hurt themselves. "As for Bakugou…"

The screens had been turned off so they wouldn't see what was happening, but Touya could still hear All Might speaking with Bakugou - or attempting to, at least. The boy immediately shrugged him off and responded defensively to All Might's positive brand of comfort. Touya didn't blame him. Had All Might tried that with him even now, he would've snapped and aggressively shrugged him off.

Honestly, as much as Touya saw himself in Midoriya standing up for himself and fighting with and running away from an aggressor, Bakugou's temper reminded him not of his father but of himself as a teenager. So much pride and insecurities wrapped up tightly with bow of rage - all of which amounted to a terrible combination.

"I'll deal with him," Touya settled on saying.

One way or another, he would, whether Bakugou liked it or not. There would be no shrugging him off. Touya was one bridge he couldn't afford to burn if he wanted to become a pro hero.


	6. Let's tell each other secrets

Notes: I really need to catch up on posting. Whoops.

* * *

Touya stared at his coffee as he slowly spun a straw around the cup. He had been tired, hence why he made it, but now that it was in front of him, he didn't feel the urge to drink. Instead, all he did was watch as the creamer mixed in with the coffee and then continued to stir. Round and round the liquid went, like a miniature whirlwind, growing colder by the second. He didn't care. He'd just dump it out and pour a second cup.

Shouto hadn't used his flames during the combat scenario. He had used his left side, but only as a means to melt the ice that had frozen the building and his enemy in place. It wasn't much to go by, but it did give Touya some pause. He hadn't needed to use his flames in order to win. Even if Ojirou was hard-working and Hagakure's quirk gave her the perfect stealth, they were no match for the brute force and strength of even half of Shouto's quirk. They were going to have to learn how to deal with stronger opponents if they wanted to last and become heroes.

And the Support Companies needed to get off their fucking asses and develop a proper uniform for Hagakure. Sending a teenage girl butt ass naked into the battlefield against villains. He was absolutely livid, but no one else had batted an eye at the ridiculous get-up, not even All Might, who was goodness itself personified. He could not fucking believe the teachers were okay with that. What were they thinking?

And then Kayama's first hero costume popped into his mind, and he shuddered. That costume had not been kind to his teenage self. Of course villains had hesitated against her. She had loved the thrill of it, but it still mind-boggled him. Where was the protection? The functionality? The practicality? The usefulness? At least now she was covered up from nearly head-to-toe, even if it was that ridiculously skintight suit.

Okay, so maybe he could believe it, but they should still know better. Hagakure was fifteen-years-old. Maybe she was here to become a hero, but protection was still important. Plus, plenty of men were creeps even if they weren't villains or small-time criminals. She didn't need to be subjected to that kind of behavior. What she needed was a uniform that offered some sort of cover besides gloves and shoes. It had been her lack of clothing that had enabled her to get trapped so easily by Shouto's ice.

He let go of the straw so he could pick up his pen and scratch a reminder to call one of his preferred Support Companies. They'd helped him out when it came to the issue with Togata's quirk and costume. They could do something with Hagakure. He was not about to let a girl run around naked surrounded by a bunch of teenage boys - or fight villains. He didn't care if no one could see her. That wasn't the point. And that was without bringing up Yaoyorozu's outfit, which could've easily been made less absurd by cutting an opening in the back of her shirt instead of the front and giving her practical shorts. These girls being left vulnerable and for what? For fucking what?

Touya dropped the pen on the note and rubbed his eyes. He was getting worked up because it aggravated the hell out of his, yes, but also because it was easier to be frustrated over Hagakure's and Yaoyorozu's hero costumes than think about his brother. They were nice distractions. He could get angry about it and not feel bad. He could make plans about speaking with them about their comfort and preferences for their costumes. He could fix this.

What he had with Shouto - or rather, what he didn't have with Shouto - could not be simply fixed. Honestly, he wasn't even sure if there was anything he could do or wanted to do, aside from apologizing for throwing a hot pocket at him and bolting. Touya groaned and dropped his forehead against the table. Had he seriously done that? What kind of unprofessional nitwit…

"Ah, Mr. Korihada, is this a bad time?"

Touya jerked upright and peeled off the paper that had stuck to his forehead, flicking it onto the table. He met eyes with All Might, who hung in the doorway like he was asking for permission to enter the teacher's lounge. Well, who was Touya to say who could and could not enter when he often used this place as a sanctuary? Usually, that implied Aizawa's, Yamada's, or Kayama's presence, but they had been busy with their teaching duties, leaving him alone for once.

Except not anymore, because the one teacher he didn't want to see right now was peering at him anxiously with those deep, sunken eyes of his. Touya had found them a bit unsettling at first, but now he didn't even blink. It just made him feel...irritated. This was the man whose dust his father had been swallowing all these years? This was the hero who had driven the great Todoroki Enji to such lengths that he'd conceived four kids just to abuse and neglect them?

Pathetic, absolutely pathetic.

Frustrated and embarrassed by his own bitterness, Touya shook his head and gestured silently in what he hoped was a sign of peace. He had his own issues, but they weren't All Might's fault. Now how he had handled Bakugou and Midoriya's fight? That was definitely his fault, and Touya was allowed to be angry with him over that. However, having an actual reason to dislike All Might only made things worse, and he knew Aizawa would call him out on his behavior if he acted like a twat.

Relaxing his bony shoulders, All Might stepped further into the room and shut the door gently behind him. He went to the fridge to retrieve what looked like a smoothie of some kind, and Touya looked back down to his notes. He'd started to scribble when his thoughts threatened to go back to Shouto. There had been a lot of strength in the ice half of his quirk, the thought of which chewed at the back of Touya's mind. Shouldn't he be more comfortable and prone to use his fire quirk? Their father surely would've focused on that in his training.

"Did you make this?"

"Huh?" Touya glanced back and found All Might pointing at the coffee pot. "Uh, yeah, you can have some."

"Oh, I wish," All Might sighed wistfully. "I can't anymore due to my...injury, but I used to drink it all the time when I lived in the States."

"Hm, yeah, I remember the commercials," Touya said without thinking. Not even the Number One Hero could escape the lull of merchandise. Nothing sold a person on coffee quite like seeing All Might's beaming, energetic face on the television draining a cup and then punching the hell out of a villain. Except his father, of course, who only drank tea and wouldn't allow coffee in the house. He always got so worked up over those commercials.

All Might's cheeks actually turned pink. "I hoped people had forgotten about that."

"About what?" Touya asked. "That even the Number One Hero could be a sell-out?"

Surprise flashed across All Might's face, his mouth parting slightly. All he could manage was a single, "I-" before Touya held up a hand to stop him.

"Sorry, that was rude. Heroes have to make a living somehow." To be honest, Touya wasn't all that apologetic, but it had been needlessly rude. Yamada often gave soundbites, especially since he still hosted a radio show, and Midnight often did interviews and went out of her way to give the media and public a show. He didn't begrudge them for that, but maybe it was a little hypocritical when he simply preferred Aizawa's method. There was no fanfare, no showing off, just going in and doing this job.

Eraserhead would never be a popular hero, but he was the one people needed, even if they didn't know it.

"No, it's fine," All Might said. "It simply caught me off guard."

Yeah, Touya bet it did. He probably wasn't used to people not fawning all over him. As soon as the media got wind that he was a new teacher here, they'd clamber to find a way to interview him, but that likely wouldn't happen. It was going to happen sooner than later, and he was not looking forward to the shitstorm that would follow. It would be funny to watch Aizawa react to a mic and camera being shoved in his face. Touya would pay good money for that. All Might, on the other hand, for however awkward he sometimes sounded when he brushed off deeply personal questions, was made for the camera. It loved him.

_Careful. You're starting to sound like Endeavor. _

It was a good thing Touya hadn't been holding his pen or he would've snapped it in half upon that intrusive thought popping into his head. Stupid traitorous brain.

(To be fair, it wasn't wrong.)

"You don't like heroes very much, do you?" All Might said carefully.

Touya's eyes flickered to him, and he flatly asked, "What gave you that impression?"

All Might smiled somewhat nervously and gestured to the chair across from him at the table. Once again, Touya waved at him indifferently. It wasn't like he owned the place. All Might had a right to be here as much as him, perhaps more so since he was a hero while Touya remained the only civilian to "teach" at UA. It wasn't even a real class if he was being honest, but Nezu called it as much.

"It's hard to say exactly, but while you work at UA, you seem to hold an awful lot of contempt for the hero profession," All Might continued.

Having grown in the Todoroki household, Touya knew how to keep his face schooled and devoid of any reaction, but it still left a bitter taste in his mouth to be called out like that by the Number One Hero of all people. "I respect heroes," he replied.

"Of that, I've no doubt," All Might said, nodding thoughtfully. "You hold Aizawa in high regards, do you not?"

Touya shrugged. "He's a good hero and a great teacher. He does his job and he does it well. I can respect someone who does that."

"You can respect them, but that doesn't mean you have to like them." All Might set his drink down. It remained mostly untouched. "You're clearly familiar with heroics and all the aspects about it, including the training that these kids must endure. You care about them and their future as heroes or you wouldn't be here. I find it very curious that someone who doesn't like heroes is helping people become them."

"I don't...dislike heroes." Touya looked away and rubbed his arms. "They're good. They protect and save people. They give the public peace of mind. They make decisions and sacrifices that I could never imagine." He dug his nails into the sleeves of his shirt. It was hard not to talk about heroes and not think of his father. He tried to think of Aizawa or Yamada instead, but… "They're also capable of abusing the power, attention, and wealth that being a hero grants them. They can be selfish, cruel, and absolutely brutal. They can be terrifying and self-absorbed, righteous bastards or greedy to the core."

When he looked back to All Might, there was a deeply sad expression on his face. No, it was more than sad. It was hurt, not for himself but for Touya. He instantly found himself pushing away, like Bakugou after the combat scenario. He didn't want All Might's pity. The man could and would never be able to fathom the consequences of his existence. All he'd been trying to do was good and save the world and become the Symbol of Peace, and it had driven what might have been a not-so-shitty person into becoming a flaming garbage can.

"You're not wrong," All Might admitted. "Not everyone becomes a hero with the best intentions. Some don't have a single drop of empathy. It's...unfortunate, to say the least." He sighed and gazed down into his drink. "It's easy to get caught up in everything that comes with being a hero. The glamor, the fame, the money - I've seen good heroes turn into someone unrecognizable because of it all."

Some of them even turned into monsters.

_He's not a monster, just a piece of shit. Stop being so melodramatic. _

"I want these kids to fulfill their dreams," Touya said, keeping his eyes down, "and maybe I am a little selfish or arrogant when I say that I want them to do it for the right reasons."

He thought of Shouto. Why was he at UA? Was it because he wanted to be here or because their father was determined to see him become a hero? Did he even have a reason of his own? Had he found something else to focus on other than their father's greed?

"It's an admirable goal," All Might commended him.

"Most of these kids won't amount to much, if I'm being honest. Some won't break the top one hundred, most won't open their own agency, some might never become more than sidekicks. Many of them go on to do other things." It was a fact that they didn't like to talk about, but it wasn't a bad thing. Some graduates ended up letting their hero licenses expire or went into a different career path and did great things. Had he attended a hero school, he likely would've done something similar. "But the few that do rise to the top… I don't want them to abuse the responsibility given to them. And I've seen too many heroes do it time and time again. It's shit."

"You're very passionate about your job."

"I guess." He was. There wasn't really a point in lying about it, but it was also something he didn't like to talk about. He had a careless reputation to uphold, after all. If the kids ever got wind that he actually gave a shit about them, it would be game over. Or maybe that was behavior he'd learned from Aizawa, who acted like he could care less when Touya knew for a fact that he cared a fuck ton. What people might've seen as horribly cruel when Aizawa expelled an entire class one year, Touya had seen as a kindness.

Most of those kids never would've made it, and some of them would've died. Handling their crushing disappointment would have been one thing, but watching them die not long after getting their licenses would have been excruciating. Aizawa had known they couldn't cut it, especially after Touya's own reservations and recommendations, so he cut them entirely.

That was something Touya hadn't learned until after he ran away from home: that perceived cruelty and punishments were not always a bad thing. He had been slapped, hit, kicked, and burned - yelled at, mocked, neglected, and forgotten - but when Aizawa stopped him for stealing and scolded him for his destructive behavior, it hadn't been out of anger or disappointment. It had been done out of concern.

"You've not had good experiences with heroes outside of UA, have you?"

"To be fair," Touya said, which he really wasn't, "I haven't really had any experiences with villains to balance it out." He leaned back in his chair and folded his arms across his chest. "I'm sure I might think differently if a villain jumped me or I got stuck in the middle of a terrorist attack, and there was a hero or two around to save my ass."

All Might gave him a strange look. "No experience with villains then?"

"Technically, I've had a handful, but they've always been under the professional capacity," Touya explained slowly. When All Might didn't say anything, he took a breath and continued, "I'm not a quirk specialist, per se, but I work with quirks all the time. Sometimes, they can be damaging to a person's mental and physical health, so I'm called in to determine its effects on a villain and testify about it in court."

He was always hesitant to talk about this side of his work. While he mostly dealt with kids who manifested dangerous and unstable quirks, there were times when he was also called in to interview criminals and villains. Kayama hadn't liked it much, but then she said it was simply because she wasn't comfortable with him being around villains. Yamada was supportive. Aizawa said his opinion didn't matter - that if Touya wanted to work with them, it was up to him. He liked it. Sometimes, it was for a defense case; other times, it was for the prosecution. Either way, it was...fascinating, the way quirks could help push a person down the right or wrong path.

If not for Aizawa and the others, he likely would've been on the latter path instead of where he was now. It had certainly been going that way.

"You do quite a lot," All Might noted.

"Hey, us civilians have to make a living too," Touya said dismissively. "I'm not cashing in on action figurine sales or raking in the dough due to an outdated popularity contest."

"Care to share more thoughts on hero society?" All Might asked, sounding more amused than offended. That was a relief. As grumpy as Touya was acting, he did not need Kayama needling him about being nicer, even if she was right.

Touya rolled his eyes. "I grew up around heroes. It's hard not to form an opinion of them when you're more involved in the world than most kids."

The moment All Might sat up straighter, Touya knew he had made a mistake. It was one thing to talk about his opinions about heroes and maybe even admit that he hadn't had the best of experiences with him, but saying that he'd grown up around them implied something much more. Everyone had grown up with them, but not everyone had grown up around them and in their world.

"Were your parents-?"

"But there are some good ones, and that's why I'm here," Touya stated loudly, unfolding his arms and leaning forward again. He ignored the question outright. When All Might didn't move to ask it again, he fought the urge to sigh in relief. The last thing he needed was All freaking Might to ask him about his parents. That was a can of worms that he did not want to open or even deal with lying about. "These kids - all of them, even the little shits - are trying to become heroes, and it's my job to make sure they don't kill themselves along the way."

All Might folded his hands on the table. "It hasn't been long since we've met, but truth be told, you've already given me some things to think about. We heroes get wrapped up in the ideology of self-sacrifice, but it's easy to forget how harmful that way of thinking is for impressionable kids who want to follow in our footsteps." He dropped his gaze to his hands, his mouth tilting into a frown. "It's...all too easy to push them beyond their means and make them feel like they aren't good enough, which only encourages them to go even further and do serious damage. I thought I was simply inspiring the next generation to be more, but perhaps…"

"There can be negative consequences to positive actions?" Touya snorted. "Sometimes, but not all the times."

Just, you know, when the Number Two Hero was filled with so much jealousy, bitterness, and rage that he bought a woman with the right quirk in order to have children and then either ruthlessly train them to become a hero or completely neglect them. Or when a kid thought he had to break his body repeatedly in order to do one good thing and win. Or when a person was driven into villainy because their quirk could never amount to those shining above them.

"Speaking of positive and negative actions…" All Might fiddled with his fingers.

Touya narrowed his eyes. "Yeah?" Why did he get the feeling that All Might had actually been building up to this the whole time? Had he been distracting himself instead of thinking about the important topic in his mind? Well, Touya couldn't blame him when he'd been doing the same thing. "What of them?"

"I couldn't help but notice your reaction to young Bakugou's fire when he let off that explosion with his grenades," All Might said, oh so careful once more, like he was treading on thin ice. He was. He really fucking was. "The explosion was bright and very loud, but you looked...scared and jerked away so adversely-"

"It was nothing," Touya cut in.

All Might frowned and his eyes flickered down. Touya moved his gaze to follow them. "I didn't mean to, but I saw-" Shit, his sleeves had ridden up, revealing some of the old scarring that hadn't faded in time. Recovery Girl had bemoaned about not being able to heal him and had been even more upset to realize how old they were. It could've been worse. He knew that. They would have been worse if he hadn't received help. "They're old. I thought maybe they might be due to a villain attack-"

_More like a hero attack- _

"No, they're not from a villain attack." Touya tugged his sleeves down to hide them. Honestly, they weren't that bad. It wasn't like he was totally disfigured or anything. The scarring was worse on his wrists and arms because they were the closest to his flames.

All Might gave him a patient look, but when Touya pressed his lips together, he nodded in understanding. "I'm sorry for pressing. I was merely concerned."

Of course he was. Of course he was fucking concerned. Because he was a good fucking person and a decent human being and a great hero and-

And it wasn't his fault that his father had crushed Touya under his boot like a bug and controlled Shouto's life with an iron fist, which very likely had created complexes about their quirks for both of them, especially if his theories about Shouto not using his fire were confirmed.

Touya let out a breath. "It's fine. Thanks for asking. I just...don't like talking about it these days. It happened a long time ago, and I'm content to forget about it." He forced himself to sit upright and look a little more presentable than normal. "I won't let it get in the way of my job, but" - he pointed a finger at his fellow teacher - "I will correct Bakugou's shit behavior if it keeps up. He's got a lot of potential, but he's gonna get exactly nowhere with that attitude."

"Understood."

"And as for Midoriya," Touya added as he stood and swiped his cold cup of coffee. "He's going to be in my class. I feel like you favor him - maybe because he has a strength quirk of some kind like you - but this is three times he's injured himself with his quirk, so he's mine now." A started look flashed across All Might's face, his eyes wide as he leaned back. "I'll do what I can to help him get his shit together, but if he keeps hurting himself, he's out of here. The same goes for Bakugou. Do you understand?"

"Yes, of course." A strange smile lit up All Might's face. Touya had just berated him over his poor teaching skills, and he was smiling. Shit, he was so obnoxious. "You know, you can be kind of intimidating when you want to be."

Yeah, he'd learned it from the best. Touya shook his head and dumped his coffee down the drain and his cup in the sink. Without even glancing at the other man again or saying a word, he walked out of the teacher's lounge. He'd come back to clean it later. All he wanted to do was hide in his office and contemplate what to say to Shouto. If he had to talk to All Might anymore, he might actually use his quirk, and he definitely didn't need to do that. Fuck, this was hard.


End file.
